Is Writing Easy? (True Story)

Part of what makes writing- for the non-writer or the want to be famous writer is the part of the planning to get to where they want to go.  There are countless self-help books out there on how to become a better writer, or how to write a novel in 30 days, but the best writers, or the professional writer probably scoffs at the idea that writing is easy.  Writing is easy? No, not at all, writing is tough and anyone who might argue that really hasn’t lived or experienced writing.

Because it isn’t.  It is like any other job. (If you follow the acronym, J.O.B.- Just over broke- you will probably feel different about the famous writer part) This job is harder because no matter how much willpower you have to stay the course or to continue to write when there is a million things to do… well it does force a person to take a step back.

 

Now, it’s the story time part of this blog post.

Once upon a time.

No… let’s try that again: In a land far away there was a writer. No, that still doesn’t sound right.

One more time with feeling: There was a person who wanted to write and for many years they believed the hype that writing was easy. That writing was going to be the way to their dreams.  This person started a blog, and dreamed of becoming an author.  Not just any author but one whom people would want to read.

They set to work.  Each day they would toil away for an hour or two on a blog post, and a little while on the novel, or non fiction, or something that other people might mistake for “not true work.”  To be fair, they did work hard, very hard.  Unfortunately, the hard work was only in their head.  Yes, they told themselves, writing is easy.  No doubt about it, it was easy.

At some point, they had a first draft of a book.  They loved it.  It was easy, writing it was easy, and it was fun, and they had some income (read pennies) coming in from the blog they were writing on.  Soon, of so soon, they deluded themselves, money would come, just would take a moment or two to get there. After all writing is easy…

Not so fast, not so fast came the verdict from the real world.  You are not  doing your work, or even a job. This requires a lot of sacrifice and work. It isn’t easy, and all too often it isn’t fun. There is editing, reflection, hard work, teamwork and more which goes into working as a writer. It’s not a nine to five job, but it’s more than one or two hours as a time.

Cue the tears.

Reality check sets in for this person.  The dream job they had where they would become an author faded.  However, they didn’t take time to reflect on what they should be doing with the life they were building.  They simply refused to believe they had work to do.  They complained, “the editors are being too hard” there wasn’t time to write.  They wanted to get the money, they want some sort of approval from people who would never approve of what they were doing.

In short, life handed them exactly what they gave to life. Not much.

 

True story.  This happens all the time. There are countless YouTube channels and blogs which started out great but didn’t do so well because there wasn’t an easy ride.  When it comes to writing, the same holds true.

The ones who create the best blogs, or the most powerful novels are the ones who face their demons and learn they have more to give, and more to learn. The best writers understand it isn’t easy, and it takes a lot of effort, both mentally and emotionally to grow.  You can’t be a master even if you did 10,000 hours of writing, when there is no growth to be had.  Growth is what makes writing easy- or easier.

Growth happens only with challenges, and giving up isn’t always the answer but working through the challenges are.  This doesn’t mean you will feel as if there isn’t much more you can do to make your writing better, or at least less painful, but give it time.  Enjoy the journey.  You might hate writing, but you will learn something about yourself if you grow through the challenges that this profession can give you.

Growth is the key.  So is reflection and learning to be a student of the craft.

There will always be things to learn and to find about yourself as a writer, and while writing a blog is fun and challenging, it’s all about growing as a writer, and then learning to make this worth something more.