Writing is Hard

I haven't been on the blog in a while. And that's on me. Who even knows if my words are being read? Two things: that's not the point of writing. And writing is therapeutic in its cathartic abilities. So I will keep on blogging when I'm able and hope it reaches someone out there.

I've determined my goals for the next several months and they include, if you can believe it, MORE WRITING. And not just the actual process of writing. I want to read more about writing practices and, overall, better myself as a writer. That means being more present in the super-active writing community on social media; both following and interacting with those other writers from all over the world. It means not being afraid to reach out to other writers and asking those important questions.

I have several projects in the works, WIPs if you will. And a solid group of writer friends to lean on for support (Elizabeth, ano._.hana, my Writer's Block peeps <3 and beyond). I even accomplished NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) this year...something that up till recently I shuddered at the thought of merely participating in at ANY capacity. But despite the 'end of 2020' motivation I seem to have found, if you see me or think about me, shoot me a message and say "Hey, you writing anything today?" It's as easy as that. If you need a creative partner (CP), reach out to me and we can start up a conversation. Need a beta reader? Want to be a beta reader? I can point you in the right direction. But, now on to the meat of the matter.

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In the past several months, coincidentally over quarantine, I've been able to admit to myself just how hard writing is. It's not easy. And it's something that needs to be a part of my routine life if I want to succeed at it. It's like running, I've heard. Sometimes it's not something you want to do that day. But deep down you know that if you just start and get past that uncomfortable feeling in the middle, that you will learn to move past the mental resistance and become a better runner over time. Natalie Goldberg, author of Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within, wrote that "You practice whether you want to or not. You don't wait around for inspiration and a deep desire to run. It'll never happen...especially if you have been avoiding it" (Freeing the Writer Within, p. 11).

I've romanticized the act of writing in the past 16 years I've been at it. I mean that I've always thought "writing isn't that hard. Look at all these books that have been published. And look at how successful that author is." I've had to step away from that mindset, though. I definitely think that we should all shout from the rooftops: Just because you didn't write a good sentence today, doesn't mean you suck at writing! Keep going, friend.

Yes, some people are able to churn out multiple books a year. And good for them. But there are those of us who take literally forever to get anything done.

And that's OK.

The point is that we are consistently working on the practice of writing. With that in mind, I've taken up several writing and creating mantras recently. Here are 5, but trust me...there are a lot more:

1. It doesn't have to be good...(it just needs to be written).

2. Never compare your first draft to someone else's tenth.

3. Every writer you admire has written pages and pages of trash. Give yourself permission to do the same, and trust that it's part of the process.

4. Every first draft is perfect, because all a first draft has to do is exist. (Refer back to mantra #1).

5. I'm writing a first draft and reminding myself that I'm simply shoveling sand into a box so that later I can build castles.

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I'll leave you with some wise words from Yoda.