The Writing Life
(and maybe some blood and tears)
It’s surprising how many parallels exist between high-grade athletics and top-level creative work. There are strategies that will help optimize, improve, cultivate…but the main ingredients are always the same.
The effort — focused positively and generously — is what matters. The time. The energy. The willingness to try — over and over again.
The readiness to exert, to sweat.
— Death to the Stock Photo, “Sweat”
Find the thing in you that is different, that’s as sharp as a diamond and ragged as a razor. Hone that, because that’s the thing with which you’ll cut the world. — Clayton Cubitt, The Great Discontent
“Is writing something you do or something you are?” The question’s an interesting one, and my answer may be at odds with the majority. Writing is something I do. While it’s extremely important to me and I love it, it isn’t who I am.
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I may have some talent, but it won’t get me very far. It might open doors. It might not. The world can be a fickle place, and it’s true that there are many, many people who are more talented than I. If, then, talent isn’t enough to get me very far, what is?
In* order to develop a talent, it has to be exercised. It has to be used on a frequent and consistent basis. Doing so can be hard at times, which is why I believe wholeheartedly in setting up exercises and completing them.