The art of writing.

I’m starting to write…right now.
Lately – as in the last 4-5 years – I’ve had a lot of ideas and thoughts. I’m not entirely sure why, but I think it has to do with getting a bit older and more experienced – perhaps a bit wiser, but I suppose that’s always arguable. Older isn’t debatable; it’s inevitable. Experience isn’t debatable either; it is also inevitable. What is is whether that experience is net positive.
As a result, I’ve been threatening to start writing and, today, I’m making good on that threat. Finally.
This isn’t easy, though. But, I feel as if it should be. Which leads me to my first thought. Writing is an art that we stop practicing the minute we graduate. Sure, we continue by writing emails and text messages and status updates and work-related documents. But, the actual of writing – creatively, persuasively, inspirationally…or even simply, intellectually…is left to languish.
So, welcome to a front row seat of the grand opening of me trying to get it back.
But, as I sit staring at a glowing laptop screen trying to put my disconnected thoughts into some sort of structure
and then sharing those thoughts in an interesting and digestible manner, I’m struggling. And that both concerns and frightens me.
And then I stumbled on this – a quote by one of my favorite creative writer and storyteller – Ira Glass.
“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”
So, here I go. This is me…starting to fight to close the gap between my work and my ambitions. Please let me know your honest feedback…it, along with my own sense of taste, is what is going to make me better. Oh, and I hope along the way, you get some enjoyment out of it as well.
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