Hello Musers!
Here's to another quiet, relaxing, and restful Sunday and a
visit with our Musing Musers.
What's this week's topic? Well, it's one I opened with years
ago when Sunday Musings was a magazine column. It's a topic that, at the time
and probably stil, hit a few hot buttons.
To overly generalize an amateur is to say they are someone
who lacks skill, experience, and are not paid for pursuing a hobby. A professional can be generalized as someone
skilled, experienced, and is being paid for pursuing a career. However; everyone is capable of an amateur
attitude and behaviour just as we are all capable of handling ourselves in a
professional manner.
What's professional and what's amateurish?
For the record, I didn't ask...hobbist. This was another
sore point twenty odd years ago. Ready for some writers' insight? So am
I...let's get musing.
BETH
OVERMYER, author
I was going to write a long post for this titled "The
Seven Deadly Sins," but then I thought about it and decided it all boiled
down to one thing: Attitude. If you have an amateurish attitude about writing
and publishing, that's what you are: an amateur writer. Amateur writers don't
write, don't edit, don't listen to criticism, give up, and take their ability
for granted. Why? Because they don't see themselves as a professional and
therefore don't strive to act like a professional.
A professional writer writes when they don't feel like it
(though breaks are allowed), they edit, they listen to criticism, they get back
in the saddle, and they are grateful (if not fully aware) of their ability.
They treat themselves like a professional, therefore...
...am I over-simplifying things?
This is a good question that I want to put a lot more
thought into, but my first thought was attitude. Clothes make the man? No. Look
at your heart first.
SUSAN
LEONA FISHER, author
It’s about standards in the end. An amateur does it literally
for the love of it while a professional represents themselves publicly as good
at what they do and demands payment for it. Either can be “amateurish” in
approach. If any of you are involved, as I am, in voluntary work, you will know
that, these days, most charities require their volunteers to be trained and
kept up to requirements, ie “volunteers but not amateurs”. Neither would we
have malpractice suits against paid practitioners in various “professions” if
at least some weren’t negligent or incompetent some of the time. I’m not sure
what to say of the writing world. Self-regulating to an extent, but anyone can
publish anything within reason these days, and the standard does vary! I
certainly don't earn much from it, but like to think that I bring professional
standards to what I do produce, as I'm sure all my Muser colleagues do too.
J.Q.
ROSE, author
The first thought that hit me when I saw the topic of
professional vs amateurish is how professional authors react to bad reviews. I
think we all know we can't make everyone happy with our stories, but we do
submit books which we have worked on and done our best. One person out of 100
may not like that story. Unfortunately that is the one review we focus on and
can't forget. However, the pro will let it go without comment. The amateur will
respond with snarky comments which may inflame another comment from the
reviewer and the two commence to say things that should not be said and
especially recorded forever in an online comment section. The pro has learned
to let the comments slide off her "tough" skin and appreciate the
great reviews even more.
ROSEMARY
MORRIS, author
One definition of an amateur is someone who occupies his/her
time studying or participating in an activity such as a sport as a pastime, who
does not earn money from it.
Another definition is someone, who studies a science such as
astronomy as a hobby not a profession.
With regards to the arts I would describe an amateur artist
as one enjoys painting for its own sake, and amateur authors as those who enjoy
writing, whether they express themselves in a diary or write fiction, non-
fiction or poetry for pleasure. However, some artists and authors serve long
apprenticeships learning their craft with the intention of selling their
paintings or being published.
A professional is, for example, an author whose work has
reached a publishable standard and is paid for it.
Thanks for joining us and see you next week!
If you have a question or comment you’d like
us to muse upon, do not hesitate to contact me Christine
Steeves-Speakman at MuseChrisChat@gmail.com
