The Refreshmet of Writing

Writing has a lot of crap chutes to it. It's exhausting. It's meticulous. It's complicated. Writing is a whole lot of hard work. Some days, you pray that you never write another word again. Be careful what you wish for, though; the easiest way to stop writing is to skip one day. More importantly, though, why would anybody put themselves through this torture?

Well, the reason is that we used to think of writing as simple and fun. We did it in our personal time. We wrote the way we talked, or at least the way we wanted to sound. It was so simple and so easy.

Then we grew up. We decided that we wanted to do it as more than just a hobby; we wanted to do it for a job. It makes sense. We're always told to do what we love. But if we want to write for a living, it is no longer a hobby. Now it has become an identity. And nobody wants their identity to be mediocre. At least, we certainly don't. We want to be the best writers ever.

So we go and get some training. We read several authors, some of whom blow us away. We learn writing techniques, apply them to our own writing, and then have our work critiqued by people who don't hold any punches. Our eyes are opened very wide. We realize that writing was so easy for us because we were terrible at it. We wrote too much dialogue or too much exposition. We made two-dimensional characters and put them in cliche, hackneyed plots. Every body sounded exactly the same. There was no direction, no cohesion, no point.

So we started putting effort into our work. We made plots that were worth discussing, characters thata people cared about, actions that affected the reader, and tied it all up in the most expressive wording possible. And that is the point where we realized that writing isn't hard, but good writing is exceedingly difficult. We learned that it requires tons of attention, energy, and effort. We happily gave it to our writing, because we were sure it would take us to our goals (making money and being famous). And then when we invested a certain amount and saw nearly zero return, we lost our hope, and are in the bog of defeat.

When you're feeling worn out and beaten down, you need to find a release. Certainly, we can play games, sleep in, run around, and they do have somee merit, but sometimes there's a simpler answer.

Remember that you got into writing because it was fun. You may have written crap, but at least you enjoyed doing it. Go and do that. Write the most god-awful piece of crap that has ever graced paper. Let fly and put down whatever you want. Don't worry about what other people think because you're going to throw it out as soon as you're done. Let the joy of putting down words come over you. Remember what it was like to be a youngin' and enamored with creating.

Now, I will admit that this advice is not for everybody. In fact, when I was an underclassman in college, I would have rebuked all of the advice I just gave. I would say that writing should always have a point, that if if I don't have a point, I should keep my mouth (and pen) shut. I would say that if I'm going to write something that I'm just going to throw away, I should save my time and just not write it. I would say that doing what I suggested would make me fall back into bad habits and make it that much harder to write something good.

You may be in either one of these camps. I've been in both, and I understand how strong the conviction can be on either side. However, it doesn't matter, because both sides should remember just how refreshing it is to write.

If you are part of the latter camp and you think that you shouldn't write unless you have something relevant to say, then you should go and say something relevant. If you think writing should be for an audience and it should be as good as is humanly possible to make, then go and make it. When you put forth that much energy into your work and you are that determined to make something of the highest caliber, then the feeling you will get when you actually create something that meets your standard will be amazing. You'll feel like a living god and, if your standards are high enough, you will deserve to.

Like I said before, we have pursued writing because we loved it. Whether or not the reasons we love it have changed, we still love it. Underneath all of the crap that gets piled on, we write because we love it. If you ever forgot that, write something that you love. It's refreshing.