Struggle

Part of the struggle of writing is to learn to enjoy the struggle itself. This seems contradictory since struggle implies hardship and grief. And writing certainly has both of those in it, but the struggle is also what gives writing worth. We humans have a tendency to devalue things that come easy.

You can see this when people tell me that they intend to write a book when they have time. I always tell them that they should. They rarely try, but if they do, they learn -- as a friend of mine once said after his attempt, "It's hard!" I've heard variations of that many times. People are always surprised, even shocked to discover the words have to be wrestled out of the ether.

Because we can all write words, it seems that we all have the ability to write a book. What is a book except a lot of words? But when you’re staring at that unforgiving page, you learn that it’s much, much more.

Good authors make books that we read easily. So we think the writing is, too. But it takes practice and time. Like any craft does, you have to struggle.