The Treachery of Labels: What You Call Yourself vs. What You Really Do

This is not a coat rack.1

But it is, isn’t it? It’s supposed to be my easel, but right now I use it to hold a couple of jackets. Ergo, it’s a coat rack. It’s never going to be an easel until I use it to hold a canvas. By applying this level of honesty to the other objects lying around my house, here’s what I’ve come up with:

  • Electric guitar and amplifier – Remnants of my time with a band in high school, currently hogger of valuable cabinet space.
  • Baseball bat – Object that gives me fake courage and confidence to ward off burglars when I’m alone at night. (Not guaranteed to fight off actual burglars.)
  • Old analog v8 video camera – Also hogger of space.

Now, applying this to myself: I am not a painter. Unless I’m actually painting every single day, making it my work, then I am not a painter. I’m just some hobbyist who paints if/when time/money/desire allows it. I know this, that’s why I never call myself a painter.2 I do call myself a cartoonist because I doodle almost every day and most of my doodles are cartoons or comics. Also, with full confidence, I can tell you I’m a writer.

Many people find labels limiting, but I actually take comfort in them. They remind me of who I am. At the same time, though, I don’t grab a label I like and call myself that. It works the other way around. I go about my day doing the things I want to do. At the end of the day I look at what I’ve spent my time and energy on and that’s who I am. That’s what I do. Almost every time, the answer is the same – it’s writing. Drawing cartoons comes a close second.3

I am a writer. I also draw cartoons.

But surely labeling yourself is superficial… we are not our jobs!

If we’re not what we do, what we think, and what we say, then who are we? These labels are not imposed limits, they merely reflect what you’re already doing. Owning up to that and trying to compare what we think we do to what we actually do helps get rid of the delusions.

How many people say things like “I’m not really an accountant.4 That’s just my day job. My real passion is writing.” Out of those people how many of them actually spend time on their “real passion”? If you spend 10 hours a day doing accounting work, and 15 minutes facing a blank screen because of your “writer’s block”, then you’re really just an accountant with delusions of writing. If you want to be a writer, write goddammit.

Yes, I’m being harsh. But in case you haven’t noticed (the number of comments are a hint), this blog is really just me talking to myself. I have to keep myself in check and own up to what I spend my time on, own up to who I really am.

I am a writer. I also draw cartoons.

Thank goodness for that. Now, to fine-tune this a bit, I’d like to add the word “fiction” before the word “writer”. And there’s only one way to do that without deluding myself.

Write more fiction.

  1. With apologies to Réne Magritte.
  2. In some cultures, a painter is someone who paints houses and the like. If that’s the case then I am a painter once in a while.
  3. I didn’t know this yet when I wrote this post. Now that I’m more ruthless with cutting out procrastination, the truth emerges.
  4. With apologies to accountants who love their job.

23 October 2009

Posted in Creative Work.

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