I think that is true in part. I never wanted to be a writer, per se. That is I am neither enamored of writing, or of being a writer. That is I never woke up as a kid or as an adult and said to myself, “I want to be a Writer! That’s all I’ve ever wanted to be my whole life...” That’s not me at all. I know a lot of people apparently feel that way, they think it a cool or important profession, in the same way some people think being an actor is some great thing. I do not. Not in and of itself anyway.
I think of it far more as being a very careful observer of important things and then a recorder of those things so that those observations will not have been wasted. That is to say that, to me, neither the writing nor the writer is as important as the far more important things being observed. Though you want both the writing and the writer to be excellent at their various tasks.
However, the important things being observed need a good and reliable method or technique of being recorded (in this case writing) just as much as they need methods of solid and careful and accurate observation.
In that way I will imitate other writers, by studying their solid and worthwhile recording techniques. Just as in being a detective I have long studied solid methods and techniques of proper observation and analysis of what I have observed.
But I’m not in love with the idea that writing is either a cool profession (it may or may not be an important profession, that just all depends upon both the writer and the writer’s subject matter and observations on that subject matter), or that writing is some sort of special or important activity in and of itself. Because it is not.
I am a writer but a writer is just a writer. The things I write about, if they are of any importance at all, will long outlive me. Because if they are truly important they should…
Wyrdwend 
Reblogged this on Launch Port – The Open Door Business Blog and commented:
This is the way I feel about pretty much everything I do. I am not nearly as important as the Work and by making the Work more important than myself I become an indispensable part of it, and a vital component of something far greater than myself. At least for as long as I live. After that it’s out of my hands.
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I can understand the counter-argument to some degree. Yes, it’s important to be a keen and careful observer, but unfortunately that’s just the start of it. Seeing a curiosity is entirely different from being able to convey it to another through words. Therein lies the art, and it takes a very long time to learn how to do this well.
“Would that we could at once paint with the eyes! In the long way from the eye through the arm to the pencil, how much is lost!” – Bruce Lee
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Yep, you have to be a good observer and practitioner of technique as well.
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