Sunday, March 18, 2018

Craft of Writing: The struggle.

Movies especially love to portray writing as a romantic profession. We writers either languish dramatically as we wait for inspiration and the entire concept of the work to descend from the æther which we shall dutifully transcribe. Or we work in a manic frenzy, possibly under the influence of some intoxicant, prone to lash out at any who dare to disrupt us in our sacred duty to impart the thing that burns in our brains.

Writing is not some Victorian occupation done with quill and ink. It is, however, hard work. Crafting a sentence is not nearly as simple as some make it sound. Some days, the words refuse to fit together properly. Other days, technical glitches (like my 'h' key being sticky) can make working on any manner of writing a nightmare. ALWAYS BACK UP YOUR WORK! AND MAKE BACK UPS OF YOUR BACK UPS!!1elventyone! *coughs* The hardest part of making writing work is doing the work of writing.

There are always distractions. There is always 'real life' getting in the way. Some of us have to schedule our writing time late at night because that is the only free time we get. Others of us wake up at an obscenely early hour just to get a few pages of writing done before the day gets started and we don't get a chance to sit down for longer than it takes to scarf down a cheeseburger until it's the end of the day and exhaustion sets in. It is tempting to say that this stuff isn't part of a 'real' writer's life.

If you write, then your life is just part of your writing. It may be inspiring it. It may be an obstacle, but you're a writer living a life. Our life experiences seep into our work. It's like a painter's particular brush technique showing up in their paintings. That technique may have developed because of limited space in their studio. Or a random fingerprint on the canvas as they had to move the work to better light.

If you're a writer, then writing is a part of your life. That is both the struggle and the key to winning the struggle.

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