I’ve posted some thoughts on Writing and Mortality at Big Other.
An excerpt:
A year or two ago, an article made the rounds which had collected ten pieces of writing advice from a number of famous authors. Some of the advice was irritating, some was true but banal, some was presumably profound, and some were amusing for their own sake.
One piece of advice that got picked up and repeated was the idea that if you were working on a project, and found out that you had six weeks to live, and then would be willing to set aside the project, it was the wrong project.
I really dislike that advice. It seems to me that it originates from the same place that makes writers say things like “a real writer *has* to write” or “any writers who can be discouraged, should be.”… I don’t have to write. I have to eat. I have to sleep. I might miss writing. I don’t *have* to do it.
I feel like saying “I *have* to write” is a way of absenting oneself from agency over the decision, consciously or subconsciously. Writing is a risky career choice and one that doesn’t always yield a lot of concrete reward or social approval. But if one pretends it’s not a choice, then one doesn’t have to worry about those things, or at least not in the same way. It’s not their fault that they aren’t making more money; they *have* to write. They don’t have to doubt themselves; they had no choice. Likewise, how could you be so cruel to doubt them when this is something they must do to survive?
Art is cool. But it’s not bread.
And if I had six weeks to live, I would want to spend as much of them with my husband, family and friends as I possibly could.
Read more at Big Other.
I couldn’t agree with your sentiment more. After retiring from my day job a dozen years ago, I’ve intermittently written short fiction works (some have been sold to periodicals for usually token payment). The operative word is “intermittently” — only when I’ve felt like doing it.
I discovered that when I wasted time reading “writing advice from the pros,” the instructions had little to do with being creative, and invaribly ended with the command to sit down at the typewriter/keyboard and FORCE yourself to write EVERY DAY, regardless of how you felt about it.
That may be “art,” but if you’re compelled to do it daily, it’s also either forced labor (as in “work”) or a compulsion. In either case, it’s not an enjoyable way to spend your time.
So as you said: the advice is annoying as hell.