We Had To Write Crap

It frustrates me, reading the writing of people in certain age groups. It all sounds the same to me.  They all write about themselves or author analogs talking about their lives and their feelings, rarely actually doing anything within the story.  It is a struggle for me to read those stories all the way through anymore.

Of course, I'm no exception.  I'm sure I've written my fair share of crappy writing.  But that makes me all the more curious: how is it that everybody has written that same junk?  Is it possible we had to write that crap?

I can't say for certain, but it would make sense.  We all have pretty similar thoughts and feelings; it makes sense we would want to get them out on paper.  And if we are also just starting out in writing, then we wouldn't really know what is good and bad.  It is possible that we wrote this garbage because it was part of the process of figuring out what is good.

I like to think that's the case.  Writing that crap is the same as a beginning artist drawing stick figures with very squiggly lines.  It's like a beginning chef making scrambled eggs with nothing in them.

It helps me get through the day, knowing that it is a beginning phase for beginning writers.  It also serves as advice for beginning writers:  You are going to write a lot of crap.  There's no avoiding it.  You kind of have to do it in order to get to the good ones.  Just power through them and give it your all.  The harder you work, the less crap you will have to write.