Writing is Hard

Writing is hard.

It takes time, discipline, mental energy, and stamina.

If you’re anywhere near the beginning of your writing journey, it’s probably also hard for another reason: you’re not that good at it.

And that’s OK.

Let’s be clear–Writing is not just wiggling your fingers over a keyboard or flicking a pen across a sheet of paper.

So, why is writing hard, anyway?

Crafting prose or verse is a painstaking and highly iterative process. Drafts pile up. Edits cut deep.

Ideas change and sometimes large chunks of writing get tossed as a project develops.

But there’s a good chance the writing part is only the tip of the iceberg!

Before you sat down to write (and edit, and write some more, etc), you probably had to brainstorm an idea. You may have had to research.

There’s a good chance your original idea was too broad (or possibly too narrow, though this is a much less common problem) and you had to refine it.

Good ideas sometimes pop into our heads fully-formed while we’re in the shower. This is a wonderful but rare occurrence for the new writer. It’s something that needs to be fostered and encouraged.

Most of the time we have to work and struggle before we have something worth setting down in writing.

So yeah, it’s exhausting. Especially for beginners.

How can you make writing easier?

Your writing skills will improve over time. This is not exactly inevitable – it’s dependent on you seeking and listening to feedback and doing lots of practice – but it can happen if you take writing seriously.

The same is true of your organizing, brainstorming, and topic-defining skills.

With time, practice and self-reflection, you will get better.

Writing can be easy, too.