Mike "Pops" Klumpp

I meet a lot of your “writers”. They call themselves “writers” because they like to write. In fact, they do write, as long as by writing we mean words on paper or words on a screen. However, if by “writer” we mean craftsman, people who have studied and perfected a craft, then they are deluded and not writers or artists. They are playing make believe.

Writing is not merely spilling the contents of one’s head into a format of words. People who won’t shut up but have nothing of interest to say and no perceivable purpose to their rantings, are not called “speakers”. They are just noise. Writers who rant without craft onto screens and pages are likewise noise.

A person may have great ideas or flourishing emotions boiling over into words. With today’s easy publish, anybody can make a book environment, anyone can call themselves a poet, writer or author. However, it takes study and discipline, it takes work and planning, sometimes it takes years of rejection and evolution, to become a “writer.” Learn the craft. Don’t just contribute to the noise.