In Others’ Words: Ain’t That the Truth

“A writer is somebody for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.” ~Thomas Mann (1875-1955), German novelist

The more determined I was to achieve something concrete as a writer — publication — the harder it got to write.

The bar was raised — by me and all the writers I learned from or who mentored me.

What was good enough before was simply … not.

And then somebody would ask me, “What do you do?”

And I would say, “I’m a writer.”

And they would reply, “I want to write a book one day.”

And I would smile and nod and say something encouraging. Polite.

But in my head I thought: Let me know how that works out for you.

Because I knew something the person didn’t: Writing is hard, hard work.

In Your Words: Writers, what do you find challenging about writing? (I’m assuming we aren’t going to debate the whole “hard work” assumption.) Readers, ever think about writing a book? Or an article?

I’m interviewed over at the Inkwell today, which is the ACFW Colorado blog. I’m talking about everything from faith to favorite foods to my favorite piece of writing advice. Hope you drop by and visit!