Writers are generally an anxious lot. Status anxious. (I’ve been guiltier than any.)

Look at the perverse way writers are taught to write their bios : ‘John Smith has been published in Scribblers Monthly, Writers’ Bellybutton, etc and was highly commended in the Collie Shire Writer’s Competition.’ What sort of bio is that? It doesn’t tell us anything about a person. Does the writer expect his or her audience will go look up these obscure journals and be wowed? Not really. I think the writer wants the audience to respect him or her. ‘I’m a real writer’.

Then look at the way writers stress about how much they’ve written, how much others have written. And so many writers trying to intimidate other writers: ‘I’m doing better than you’. (Watch me do it next time some success comes my way.)

I don’t know what to make of this. It’s probably good to celebrate success. After all, writers work so hard for so little reward. But status anxiety is not good.