Nobody Craps Gold

Every part of the writing process can be difficult. Coming up with an idea, developing it, writing an outline, writing a first draft, writing all the subsequent drafts, revising, editing, and every other aspect that I skipped over all have their own set of difficulties. If you're lucky, you will only struggle on a few of them in a given project. If you're unlucky, you'll hit a brick wall every step of the way.

This is an unpleasant view of a beautiful art, but it is largely true. If you want to make something truly amazing, you're going to work for it. Nobody sits down and just craps gold. There are certain exceptions to this. Sometimes a brilliant idea just hits you. Sometimes some unknown force gives you the one piece that you needed to solve the rest of the puzzle. Whether you call this inspiration or genius or anything else, it is the same thing as a small gold nugget.

The important thing to remember, though, is that those insights are small and rare. Sometimes, the funniest line in the world comes to me. But I never have a fully-formed comic strip hit me. That requires a little more effort. And I never get more than a single scene from a story arc for free. The rest of it is my hard work.

You could be working on a novel. You could be thoroughly inspired as you write an entre chapter that is pure brilliance. However, even if you got a full chapter in one sitting, you still have the entire rest of the book to write. Don't wait for that inspiration to strike again. Work your absolute hardest or else you will never finish anything.