Writing Is Hard and Messy and Worth It

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Writing is a strange occupation. The moment we need to write, our brains instantly push us to go and do something else: post on Twitter, wash the dishes, walk the dog, create an elaborate five tiered tiramisu cake. Any, as long as it isn’t writing. And yet, the feeling of having written is one of the best. Often, we write just for the feeling of having written afterwards. But writing itself, that’s a terribly hard thing. Motivation doesn’t come easily, inspiration strikes rarely, and even the act of forcing yourself to sit down and push out a couple of words can be agony.

Sometimes I wonder why I do it.

Writing isn’t sitting in front of a desk for eight hours and pouring out ink from your soul. It isn’t days of slipping out of bed to catch the muse, armed with a latte and a fresh bagel. It’s not sitting in the sunshine with a mug of tea, brewing the perfect plot twist and soaking in the inspiration. And it’s very rarely writing through your meals because you’re so inspired that you can’t possibly stop until you’ve got all the words down.

Writing is hard. It’s messy. It’s days of forcing yourself to the desk when you don’t feel like it. It’s snatching moments between other things to crunch out a few words. It’s weeks of emptiness, where the words aren’t coming, dark nights of doubting your own abilities, staring at your book and seeing the flaws and hating yourself because no matter how hard you try, it doesn’t match up to what you want it to be.

So why do we keep putting ourselves through this? Why keep forcing yourself to eke out another few words when all you want to do is burn the whole thing and take up beekeeping? Why hasn’t this strange beast that is the life of a writer scared us to our senses yet? What is it about writing that keeps us coming back every day, asking for more punishment, bloodied and bruised still from our last round in the ring?

Because we can’t not.

We were born with stories in our souls. There are words inside us that need to come out. It doesn’t matter whether anyone will read them or not. It doesn’t even matter if we ever read them again. But we can’t do anything but show up to write them down. When we step away from writing, it’s only a matter of time before we have to come back, have to write down the words and empty the stories out of our minds. I read this great quote today which sums us up perfectly.

“A writer is not a person who writes, it’s someone who can’t not write.”
Catherine Deveny

Writing is hard. It’s messy. It hurts sometimes. It’s riddled with self-doubt. But it’s amazing. Because writing isn’t about the difficulties. It’s about what you make, what you do. The hardships are just steps on the road. Think of how good you feel after you’ve written. Imagine what it’s like to finish something. Remember those times when the writing did come smoothly. Envision a piece of writing you were proud of. We might be teachers, artists, doctors, anything. But we are also writers. It doesn’t matter how hard the writing is. We show up anyway. Because this is what we do. How could we do anything else?


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15 comments

  1. THAT QUOTE. AAAAAHHHH!!!!! *screams and shares quote everywhere*
    Seriously, though, it's so beautiful. This is so me.

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    1. I know, right? I knew as soon as I read that quote that I had to share it somewhere. It's just so true!

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  2. Writing is hard. Your friends think that it's days spent daydreaming, and genius words on paper, but it *isn't*. It's sweating. It's screaming.

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    1. Writing has such a mystical reputation. I think people would be genuinely surprised to here how heard and messy and tiring it is at times. So worth it, but never as easy as people think!

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  3. 'We were born with stories in our souls.' -- whoa. that was beautiful and so is this post <33

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  4. This is absolutely beautiful. <3

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  5. this post is real, honest and so beautiful and lovely and I love it! It's great to have something like this to red, to remind me why i love to write in the first place. It's home.Thank you for writing this. <3

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    1. Thank you for reading it. I feel like the hard side of writing, not just the technically difficult, but the physically and emotionally draining side really needs to be talked about sometimes. I'm so glad to see that so many people are connecting with my post!

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  6. Thanks for this. I just got a rejection and I've been feeling down, but this made me perk up a little. :)

    storitorigrace.blogspot.com

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    1. I'm so sorry to hear about your rejection. At least though, your book hasn't gone to a home where people aren't really passionate about it. It's just waiting for the right publisher that will put their hearts and souls into helping you get your book out there!

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  7. Writing is HARD. Some days I wonder why I even do it, what with all the work and head banging against a desk. But I can't NOT write... That would be crazy.

    Beautiful post!

    Micaiah
    www.notebooksandnovels.com

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    1. Exactly! I've had periods where I've been so burnt out I couldn't get a single word onto paper. But even in the worst of times, I've never had a moment where I've actually thought 'you know, you could just /not/ write.' It's so hard sometimes, but it's so worth it in the end, isn't it?

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  8. So true! I think a romanticized view of writing can be kind of harmful sometimes. We aren't somehow "less than" just because we are sitting in our bedroom trying to fix a plot hole instead of writing in a quaint cafe with a scarf and a fresh brewed mocha wafting through the air.

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