i don’t really consider “success” (getting into great schools, having a great job, working with big name professionals, owning your own business, etc) to be a measure of anyone’s skill or value
ie: i do not operate with any nonsense hierarchies of “this person is more successful than me so they must be better at what they do.”
it’s the same principle i talked abt in the post i made about kudos on ao3 - success isn’t a measure of quality, it’s just a measure of opportunity. the only difference between a ‘successful’ person and me is that a successful person has had more opportunity to build their career
there is an enormous amount of privilege in both professional and academic success. hard work is part of it, but luck is an even bigger part
your favorite mainstream author, actor, musician - they may be talented, and they may have studied their craft, and they may create valuable art. but they aren’t any more talented than a passionate kid who grew up in the backwoods of some southern state and has to work 12 hours a day in manufacturing to cover their parents’ mortgage instead of following their dreams
later this week i have a job interview that could change my entire career. i got that opportunity through luck - the mother of one of my partners let me know about it. i’ll be talking to established television and fiction writers about how i craft stories and theme. if they like me, i’ll be working with them. (not on television, but on various other projects.)
which should, theoretically, be intimidating. they’ve written for fucking TV while i’m a high school dropout from rural new hampshire. how am i supposed to compare?
Except. this is 100% my wheelhouse. i know exactly what i’m talking about, i know how to explain my technical process, i know how to tailor my approach to suit different clients. i have all of the skills necessary to do the job, backed by eight years of professional writing experience.
i’m confident that i know what i’m doing.
and the biggest thing is: i don’t feel like i need to prove a damn thing.
i’m not going into that interview like, oh, let’s try to convince them i’m worth humoring. let’s try to trick them into giving me a chance.
we are the goddamn same! we are writers who build our careers off of storytelling and technique and theme and craft! we love to explore the impact that we can make using words! we love to push the limits of language!
they are my Peers. they are professional writers who are passionate about what they do. we have a shitload of common ground even before we’ve had a conversation.
i don’t need to earn a place with them. my place already exists.
instead, i just get to vibe with people who share my interests and my knowledge and my passion. and that’s neat as hell! it’s just as neat as talking to other fanfic authors & hobbyist writers who love what they do without making it their career
the moment i start ascribing value judgments to people’s accomplishments, it’s over. no one is better or worse than me. i know i’m skilled. but more importantly, i’m not worried that other people are somehow Inherently More Skilled Than I Am
i bring Myself to the table. i offer what i have to give. i connect with people, i learn about their expertise. i collaborate by combining my areas of expertise with theirs
i don’t need to be any more than who i am. because literally all of them are just people. they aren’t more special or more worthy than i am.
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