“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”
– Ernest Hemingway
I need to read more Hemingway.
But, he’s absolutely correct about writing. It’s painful. It takes sacrifice.
Writing to be read takes work.
I frequently get offers for webinars and “great” programs that will tell me how to write a book in an afternoon.
I don’t want to write a book that can be written in an afternoon.
I think I’m about to take Chris Brogan’s advice and start unsubscribing from all of these newsletters.
Brogan wrote last week, ” I bet you’re subscribed to way too many newsletters. Unsubscribe to most of them. Really. They’re not serving you.”
He’s right.
My inbox is full. Way too full.
And the things that are there are distractions not helps.
There’s no magic formula to writing a best seller.
So that’s also where the bleeding part comes in. Sometimes it hurts to give up the crutches, the things we think we need, or have to have to make us better writers.
What I really need is the discipline to sit down and write.
And that’s hard.
Don’t get me wrong. I love the process.
I love feeling my fingers flying across the keys. I love it even more when the words they produce make sense.
I’ve gotten to the point that I can, in about 15-20 minutes hit my daily word count of 1,000 words a day. No, it’s not great writing. But it’s putting sentences together.
Sometimes they make sense. Sometimes I’m just griping about the day and about things that I’ve done, or plan to do.
This is not the writing of which Hemingway was speaking.
I think he was speaking about writing this blog post which, for some reason, has been particularly difficult.
There’s no blood on the keys, but it’s been a challenge.
Writing is work. It can be rewarding work.
But, if it’s done well, it won’t be easy.
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