writing is kool

[veronica_rich]

Friends and I watched "Becoming Jane" this weekend (partly because, James McAvoy, how blue your eyes, how noble your perhaps-possibly-once-broken nose?). Part of the plot point was Jane struggling to figure out if/how she could earn money from being able to write, being a woman in her particular time period.

I've been writing for so long that I've come to regard it as work, which it is. But in latter years that's pretty close to how I exclusively see it. That didn't used to be the case, and possibly became that way since I have to write a lot of factual detailed stuff that you'll get yelled at if you don't get right (or sometimes, if you do). There's limited room for creativity. Nonetheless, being in a position where I have earned much of my lifetime's paychecks - so far - from writing or something connected to it, is far preferable to the "will I or won't I, for my gender?" depicted in the movie.

tl;dr - Austen was a writer who had to worry if she'd be paid or accepted for doing it; I'm a writer who takes for granted that I AM. Both of us are women. Times have improved.

Comments

[pir8fancier.livejournal.com]

There was a history of women getting paid for their writing. Most of those gothic novels of the late 18th and early 19th century were written by women. Although it was her brother who approached a publisher on her behalf, as I imagine was appropriate.

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

Oh, women have always found a way to break into men's jobs. It's just that either there weren't many or they didn't get as much notice or accolades, or they had to disguise themselves as men to do it (i.e., George Eliot). I like the fact it's a lot more commonplace now and not at all weird, but more, I feel like I take it for granted that I can do it. It makes me feel like a bad person and a bad feminist (not to mention a bad writer) some days.