I’ve got a gripe to air today.

I was poking around on Goodreads the other day, something I don’t do often, and I happened across an author survey. Apparently authors on Goodreads have a little questionnaire they can fill out that gets posted to their profile for people to read. I’ve got a few authors listed on mine that haven’t written books I’ve actually read, but are listed there because of work I’ve done for the small publishing company I do some volunteer work for.

One of the author’s popped up on my feed and I happened to catch sight of one of the questions he had answered, it read as such:

“What is your favorite part of being an author?”

“It’s easy.”

Oh boy, let me tell you did my hackles rise at that. The assertion that this individual could say that they enjoy being an author because it’s “easy.” How incredibly disrespectful, to the profession and to any author out there that is trying their hardest to get published.

Let’s be honest. Being an author isn’t the most difficult profession or hobby in the world. Not by a long shot. As Bill Burr said, “Any job you can do in your pajamas is not a difficult job.” And he’s right (at least in regards to what I’m discussing here.) Being an author is probably one of the least physically demanding professions there is.

But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t take work. Lots and lots of hard work.

So much work, that it’s impossible to understand for somebody that hasn’t endeavored to write a novel. Somebody who hasn’t written a novel can’t understand what its like to work for five hours straight on a manuscript, then sit back and realize you’ve made less than 1% progress toward the end product. It’s insane. And by no means easy.

Even while you’re putting in the work, you have to deal with everything else. Those of us that are trying to make a break into the published world have to balance writing with work that actually makes money and time with family on top of that–not to mention the need to sleep, eat and do all of the things that keep you alive as a person. It’s not easy.

I think Mr. Burr would agree with this. He knows the work it takes into writing your material. I imagine the work he puts into creating an act takes an incredible amount of time. And while I’m sure he wouldn’t say it’s the most difficult job in the world, I daresay he would look you straight in the eyes and tell you that it’s not easy.

In any case, Penumbra is plugging along. Hurricane season is a pain in the insurance industry so my time was short this past week, but I’m read to get back to full speed now.

That quote from Bill Burr is from his special Let it Go (not Frozen related) which is on Netflix at the time I’m writing this blog post. He’s an incredibly talented comedian and I highly recommend checking him out, though be warned, he does used strong language.