“When people say, ‘Oh, I just love writing!’ I know they’re full of crap. They’re probably lousy writers who are regurgitating their daily thoughts in a journal. Actual writing is hard work. Even when you have the flow and it’s going well, it’s still incredibly taxing. My deepest nights of sleep are after days of having to write ten pages.”
– John August
Very true, and yet we do this writing thing anyway. Perhaps we're all a bit masochistic.
Perhaps I am full of crap. Perhaps I am a lousy writer. In fact, there is no "perhaps" about it. But I love writing. It can be frustrating. It can cause you to think: "Gee, maybe I should fill an old sweat sock with broken glass and rusty razor blades and beat the teddy-bear stuffing out of myself". But there are levels to hard work. I enjoy the "hard" work of writing.
I spent years delivering furniture. Not the light, gee that's cute, IKEA stuff. Heavy Scandinavian, each dresser made from an acre of endangered rain forest, furniture. I can tell you, there is nothing that says "I wish I was battling writer's block", like tumbling down two flights of stairs being chased by a 300 pound dresser while your partner screams words of encouragement like "Don't scratch the finish" and "Try to absorb the impact with your face."
Whew…good to know. I thought it was supposed to be easy and was just unusually hard for me. Thanks for this!
Oh, I just love writing.
But it's a pain in the ass, hard work, and most of the time I absolutely hate it. But I can't not do it.