Seeking Validation As A Writer

 In her book Letters to a Young Artist: Straight-up Advice on Making a Life in the Arts for Actors, Performers, Writers, and Artists of Every Kind (public library) Anna Deavere Smith writes:

"The life of an artist is not a state of "being". It even sounds pretentious, sometimes, to call oneself blanketly "an artist". It's not up to you or me to give ourselves that title. A doctor becomes a doctor because he or she is formally given an MD. A scholar in the university is formally given a PhD, a counselor an LLD, a hairstylist a license, and so forth.

We are on the fringe, and we don’t get such licenses. There are prizes and rewards, popularity and good or bad press. But you have to be your own judge. That, in and of itself, takes discipline, and clarity, and objectivity. Given the fact that we are not “credentialed” by any institution that even pretends to be objective, it is harder to make our guild. True, some schools and universities give a degree for a course of study. But that’s a business transaction and ultimately not enough to make you an artist.” 

So these words made me think. All artists seek validation. But who provides the validation? Who decides whether a writer has "made it" or when a writer has "made it"? Where does your sense of worth as a writer come from?

Being an artist isn’t valued the way it should be in our society. And it seems that writers are THE most insecure bunch. Why are writers so hesitant to claim the title of writer? Have you ever met a dancer, singer or actor who waits for permission to be declared a dancer, singer or actor? No. But writers seem to wait for permission. We cannot run away from the fact that there is a tendency to invalidate creators on a regular basis.

They say that those who are insecure about their work possess the most potential and have a powerful tool in their hands. How do you explain this? Well it's something along these lines: those who know the least speak the loudest, those who are the most qualified keep quiet because they question themselves and the world; the more we learn about life, or our various pursuits, the more the wisest among us realize how little we actually know. This in turn leads to insecurity in life.

The concept of validation is different for each person. Some writers are validated by their contracts and others by seeing their books in print. Some are validated by reviews, while others are validated by peer recognition. 

For me, the validation that is most important, is that my writing connects with readers. What about you?