blink.
blink.
bink.
The combination of the mocking cursor and my moderate attention span make it much easier to sit around on Netflix every day than get up and write. I could say that I'm waiting for inspiration to strike (because who doesn't get inspired while binge-watching Gilmore Girls and esoteric BBC costume dramas) but the truth is that if I don't find a way to get my butt in a chair in front of a notebook, the writing won't happen.
In the words of the late-great Dorothy Parker, "I hate writing. I love having written."
Writing can certainly be a struggle, but like with most art, the product is generally the reward. I don't think people become writers or artists because they love the agony of twisting their minds into tangible, readable objects that they can put out for the world to see, judge, criticize, and ultimately tear down. I think people become writers because they can't help be anything but writers. There's something tenseless about that moment when you sit down and words start flowing from your fingertips, words you hadn't planed but they are there all the same. It's as if you can discover a second version of yourself, one that was so close to the surface, but completely inaccessible until you touched that pen to paper (or finger to keyboard).
I tutor students after school in my non-writing hours, and one of the things I always say to the ones who hate to write is that writing is something that should be cherished. It is one of the only times in life that a person can sit down and say exactly what he needs to say without being interrupted. Respect the process, and maybe - just maybe - you'll learn something about yourself or your thoughts or your mind that you never knew before.
Of course, there are the obvious perks to living the #writerlife.
There's the constant excuse to drink (and Instagram) coffee
And travel
And obsess over anything literary or cats
And the make-your-own-hours mentality (which, admittedly is more of a productivity killer for some).
But in the end, the #writerlife is the only life for me.
As a wise doctor once said, "we're all stories in the end - just make it a good one."
blink.
bink.
The combination of the mocking cursor and my moderate attention span make it much easier to sit around on Netflix every day than get up and write. I could say that I'm waiting for inspiration to strike (because who doesn't get inspired while binge-watching Gilmore Girls and esoteric BBC costume dramas) but the truth is that if I don't find a way to get my butt in a chair in front of a notebook, the writing won't happen.
In the words of the late-great Dorothy Parker, "I hate writing. I love having written."
Writing can certainly be a struggle, but like with most art, the product is generally the reward. I don't think people become writers or artists because they love the agony of twisting their minds into tangible, readable objects that they can put out for the world to see, judge, criticize, and ultimately tear down. I think people become writers because they can't help be anything but writers. There's something tenseless about that moment when you sit down and words start flowing from your fingertips, words you hadn't planed but they are there all the same. It's as if you can discover a second version of yourself, one that was so close to the surface, but completely inaccessible until you touched that pen to paper (or finger to keyboard).
I tutor students after school in my non-writing hours, and one of the things I always say to the ones who hate to write is that writing is something that should be cherished. It is one of the only times in life that a person can sit down and say exactly what he needs to say without being interrupted. Respect the process, and maybe - just maybe - you'll learn something about yourself or your thoughts or your mind that you never knew before.
Of course, there are the obvious perks to living the #writerlife.
There's the constant excuse to drink (and Instagram) coffee
And travel
And obsess over anything literary or cats
And the make-your-own-hours mentality (which, admittedly is more of a productivity killer for some).
As a wise doctor once said, "we're all stories in the end - just make it a good one."
blink. blink. bink. The combination of the mocking cursor and my moderate attention span make it much easier to sit arou...
