But this isn’t some sort of exclusive club where only members of the writing profession can join, otherwise we wouldn’t have to say things like “walk a mile in their shoes before you condemn.” Nope, we as a society just love talking smack about things we know absolutely nothing about. Somehow, bellied-up to the bar, either with or without a few ounces of Dutch courage flowing through our veins, we become subject matter experts on anything and everything lest we seem to be a tatter-head (additions to Webster’s are being made as you read this) for not knowing something.
Here’s a clue, you’re more likely to be thought of as a tater-head for the things you say than the things you don’t … I’m just sayin’.
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Article comments
1 - jeannie danna
Benjamin,
If I can be so bold as to add to your last words, you just said a lot!
I want to become a writer, and this might sound like a lofty wish, given my education level, or lack of.
However, I believe that if I hang around here, long enough, then I'll have something to write about, and I'll finally know how.
I've walked many miles in all types of shoes, but these are the ones that feel the best.:)
I'm open to any suggestions that you might have about how I can attain this goal.
2 - Dr Dreadful
"A lot of sports writers/reporters are fat."
So are a lot of football players.
"Most sports writers have never played the game in which they’re criticizing the players, accusing them of choking or sucking or both."
But they have, in most cases, followed the sport on which they report closely over many years, attending games, watching and re-watching TV broadcasts and tapes, interviewing players and coaches and comparing notes with other sports reporters and fans. Certainly it's not the same as playing, but that kind of experience does give one an intimate knowledge of a sport, and one can accurately be called an expert.
You can argue that their perspective isn't, and never can be, that of a player: but who is their audience, anyway? Players - or their fellow spectators?
I don't fully buy into this notion that you should only write what you know. If that held true, whole genres of writing - science fiction, for one - wouldn't exist.
I'm not saying that a Trappist monk from Belgium could just suddenly write a convincing erotic novel about the harems of Arab sheikhs; but he wouldn't necessarily have to inherit a skeikhdom or join a harem either.