Writing Is Hard (Or Is It?)

I think writing takes discipline. There are so many distractions out there and they are so annoying! Even right now, I am being distracted by this post when I should be running. Not that your post is annoying, it is actually quite good and spot on. Everyone today wants things to be quick and easy, but most of the time you actually have to work to create something worthwhile.

Was thinking about this very thing on my walk this morning. The volume you crank out it amazing. I am so hard on myself, especially when it comes to writing articles for magazines that I drive myself crazy editting.  When do you get past that point?  I have been writing for four years and wondering if I will ever be able to write more volume with speed.

what an inspirational post.    I love that the only thing holding me back from saying I’m a writer is (me)…. I can embrace this new journey when I recognize that.

There’s nothing more intimidating than a blank screen and a blinking cursor. It mocks me, it laughs at my neck-stretching exercises, my fingers are intimidated, my palms sweaty. Then I start writing. After an hour or two, I turn to it and mock the absence of white, the characters spread all over what once was an empty screen. Before I walk away or hit close, then the very words I used to overcome the mocking, empty screen, they begin to mock me. They laugh at the verbs I used. The word count, the sentence structure, my punctuation. Another hour putting in fixing that up. 

Is writing hard? Yes, yes it is. They mock me… and often… they win. 

Writing as a journalist and then for a government, then a corporation, taught me that writing is work in the sense that you have to sit down and produce. When I write for myself, either fiction or nonfiction, the hard part is not the writing but what happens after – trying to get an agent, building a platform, etc. That’s the hard part, I think!

Funny article. I had a creative writing teacher in high school, who I think was a little pissed that he was only teaching high school when his brother was a “real writer”. Anyway, he used to say that when you don’t know what to write about, write about not knowing what to write about.  That always helped me get unstuck.

Very true, Jeff. Sometimes it does seem that writing is a tough job. But it’s we ourselves who make it a difficult job. And as you very well said, instead of writing an epic overnight, it would be wise to start small and end well. 

Great post, Jeff. I’m definitely a believer in fighting the small battles on a daily basis…but first let me go look for something to eat.

My favorite quote on writing:  “There’s nothing to writing.  All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein” (Red Smith).  And there’s this from Chris Brogan: “The world doesn’t make
it easy for you to write.” If you have to write, you have to write. If you don’t, you won’t.

Bad writing is easy- I’ll tell you that much!  Another great post; it inspired me to write some more today.

Interesting post Jeff! 

Something I can so well relate to being a freelance writer myself. And yes, writing doesn’t come easy, in-fact getting down to write is the main task to accomplish. Once you start, it is alright, though you have to give yourself that PUSH every single day to get going. It gets a little more difficult for women writers who have to juggle between their home, kids, and also write! 

I guess for succeeding, you need to chalk out a time for writing, discipline yourself, and just get down to it, with a determined aim to accomplish some bit of writing daily- without making any kind of excuses!

Thanks for sharing!

The first time I realized that writing was actually very easy, is when I simply talked in my writing.   Who am I talking to?  Then get write to it. And I did. Then I read an article in some Harvard journal that good writers write regardless of the content. They just do it every day, not particularly for a specific reader, so again pages in journals about life.  In a style that is similar to my spoken language. If I keep to my own spoken language it takes away from the challenge of trying to be anything different than who I am, as a writer.  Taking time to develop the structure and grammatical elements were taken off the table.  Important? Yes, but were my stumbling blocks which kept me from that next paragraph, because well I was not clear on the rules of writing. Rules?  Take those away for now, and just write and then you can always get a well intended English major, or my husband to reread with a red pen.

i sat down this morning to make a start on a scene and found myself stuck. after awhile of being stuck i googled “writing is hard,” hoping for some helpful nudge, which you’ve provided with this post. thank you. wonderful site, by the way; i’m going to take a look around.