Good points, Rowan. I’ve known several Mr. and Ms. Witlesses in my writing life, too. They’re toxic, they’re loud, they’re distracting, but eventually they’re gone. Writers working at it as a profession don’t have the tolerance for them.

Writing as a profession is a job. Every workplace has its jerks. The difference with writers and artists is that we’re constantly working against fears about our own abilities, which come, not from our skills with store-bought tools, but with the tools we develop in our own minds with our own brains. We’re always thinking we could be wrong. The finished product is, for the most part, subjective and open to constant criticism.

I can handle those toxic narcissists but I worry about writers just starting out, their fears out there raw and open as they try to fit into a vocation that is more creativity than hands-on. They should read this. I hope they do.