Dilettante vs. Straight-Up Writer

There are two dead giveaways that separate the dilettante from the straight-up writer. The dilettante absolutely won’t accept suggestions from an editor; the dilettante gets all pouty and retreats into rhetoric about “integrity”: “I’ll never change which to that, goddamnit! I have my integrity!” And the dilettante quits work before he or she is finished. How tempting it is not to do the last round of work on a piece, so that when it gets turned down, you can say to yourself, Well, it wasn’t my best work anyway. The straight-up writer makes some strong coffee and goes through the piece (the chapter, the book) one last time. How do you know it’s the last time? When you don’t have any more notes; when you don’t feel sick to your stomach; when everything you’ve written “fix?” about is fixed; when you can turn page after page and nothing jumps out at you. You do it and do it and do it until it’s done.

CAROLYN SEE