E is for Ego

As I pondered the post for today, I thought a good E word to write about for the A-Z Blogging Challenge would be Ego. Writers are notoriously egocentric. After all, they think that what they think/create/write will be interesting enough that others will invest time and sometimes money in it.

Yes, I am aware that this is a very complex subject. There are many definitions for the word Ego and a variety of beliefs surrounding the one simple word. For the purpose of this post, I’m not talking about the false center, the id, the superego or any Eckhart Tolle definitions of Ego.  I’m keeping it simple.  

For this post, Ego means a person's sense of self-esteem or self-importance; that state of awareness which thinks of you as separate from the other. Sorry to dumb it down, but I’m talking about having a ‘big head.’

Even when the definition of Ego is taken at it's most common understanding, however, writers have a variety of opinions about the importance of ego in their work. Here’s what some writers say about Ego.

Opinions scattered indiscriminately about leave the mark of egotism. ~William Strunk

Writer’s block is simply a failure of ego ~Norman Mailer

Good writers are often excellent at a hundred other things, but writing promises a greater latitude for the ego.  ~John Cheever

Writers must fortify themselves with pride and egotism as best they can. The process is analogous to using sandbags and loose timbers to protect a house against flood. Writers are vulnerable creatures like anyone else. For what do they have in reality? Not sandbags, not timbers. Just a flimsy reputation and a name. ~Brian Aldiss

I have always been a huge admirer of my own work. I'm one of the funniest and most entertaining writers I know. ~Mel Brooks

 

Take egotism out and you would castrate the benefactors. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Automobiles are free of egotism, passion, prejudice and stupid ideas about where to have dinner. They are, literally, selfless. A world designed for automobiles instead of people would have wider streets, larger dining rooms, fewer stairs to climb and no smelly, dangerous subway stations. ~P. J. O'Rourke

I know perfectly well my own egotism. ~Walt Whitman

I should not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else whom I knew as well. ~Henry David Thoreau

Mastery is often taken for egotism. ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I have nothing to declare except my genius. ~ Oscar Wilde

I am the only person in the world I should like to know thoroughly. ~Oscar Wilde

If being an egomaniac means I believe in what I do and in my art or my music, then in that respect you can call me that. I believe in what I do, and I'll say it. ~John Lennon

Do you think a writer must have a big ego? What are your thoughts on ego in general?