I’m in a writer’s workshop, and, as we go through each week’s submissions, the one thing that stands out to me is that writing takes courage.
It is one thing to tell someone, “yes, I’m writing a book,” when, really, what you mean you have an idea that you’ve kicked the hell out of for years and not gotten past the second chapter.
It’s entirely another thing to sit down and doggedly get the story in your head onto paper. That is a whole other thing altogether. Because it takes dedication. Because it takes effort. Mostly though, because it takes time.
I used to tell my students that you get 24 hours each day. 8 hours at school. 8 hours where you are *supposed* to be sleeping. That leaves 8 hours for doing something else. And then I would ask: what is it that you do? With those 8 hours?
The answer is: you are doing what matters to you.
Time is of limited quantity. But we all find ways to carve out time to do what’s important to us. – Whatever that is. Whatever that looks like.
These other workshop participants, they have spent their precious time to write. They have taken up the courage to submit it to other writers for feedback. And, God bless them, they are using the feedback to become better writers.
They inspire me. I, too, want to become a better writer.
Go forth and write!
It is one thing to tell someone, “yes, I’m writing a book,” when, really, what you mean you have an idea that you’ve kicked the hell out of for years and not gotten past the second chapter.
It’s entirely another thing to sit down and doggedly get the story in your head onto paper. That is a whole other thing altogether. Because it takes dedication. Because it takes effort. Mostly though, because it takes time.
I used to tell my students that you get 24 hours each day. 8 hours at school. 8 hours where you are *supposed* to be sleeping. That leaves 8 hours for doing something else. And then I would ask: what is it that you do? With those 8 hours?
The answer is: you are doing what matters to you.
Time is of limited quantity. But we all find ways to carve out time to do what’s important to us. – Whatever that is. Whatever that looks like.
These other workshop participants, they have spent their precious time to write. They have taken up the courage to submit it to other writers for feedback. And, God bless them, they are using the feedback to become better writers.
They inspire me. I, too, want to become a better writer.
Go forth and write!
