A Writers Product
I’ve always had a problem with words like ‘productivity’. Who does not produce something? And why is something considered less worthy by those in ‘authority’?
I’m sorry. I’m arguing with my parents, teachers, and our culture here.
As a youngster, I found that playing, drawing, reading and generally ‘living in the story’ felt much more productive than homework or chores. I resented and defied being pulled back into what others referred to as the ‘real world’.
A note here: that this is symptomatic of ADHD and its comorbidities. (comorbidity: n presence of additional conditions with the initially diagnosed illness.)
Of course, ADHD was not a ‘thing’ when I was young so I was just lazy or defiant or distracted.
Since I was only diagnosed a few months ago, I’ve lived for a long time with the stigma of being ‘different’.
Productivity
I have an ambivalent attitude towards productivity.
Products become commodities and commodities can be counted and sold.
As writers, we produce posts and word counts that we hope to be paid for. Those are commodities.
As writers, our most important products, for me, are stories.
As I have said, I live in stories. I don’t think that I have ever had a job that wasn’t in some way a story for me. Even battles with mental dis-ease have been my story. And, loves and loves lost, and the ups and downs of living and deaths.
My ‘story’ cannot be commodified adequately. Some of my stories and poems are long and some short. Some get responses and some not. I aim to communicate a feeling. Feelings nor even knowledge are not able to be commodified really.
Yes, I do write for the money. I want it and I NEED it. And I’m sure if life were easy I would write differently. I always hope that what I write makes a difference.
Dana Sanford ~ 1/10/2019
