Great Writing...Hurts

You want to put your best work out there, but you want it to "sort of happen" to you "without much effort" and in the time that you have "available." Maybe you want to be a writer but you don't want to write "every day." You don't want to take classes on the subject, you don't want to attend conferences or spend hours editing your work.

You just want to write.

I know some folks like that, and they're great people. But they will probably never get published.

Photo by: Mscaprikell, courtesy of Flickr

And that's okay. They write for pleasure, for the "sheer enjoyment" or the plain fact that writings makes them "feel better."

But what if you want more. What if you're a writer through and through? What if you can hardly think about anything else but writing? And what if writing sometimes gives you a terrible crick in the neck?

Welcome to the publishing club, where the feat is joyous beyond measure, but continually keeps you hopping up to the next step.

Photo by Clairity, courtesy of Flickr

I LOVE WRITING! It's one of those things that keeps me going, keeps me happy, and most of the time, keeps me sane! But sometimes writing also hurts. I don't want to write that sad part that reminds me of the death of my grandmother; I want to avoid the pain that child is soon to experience because it reminds me so much of my own--that I'm still trying to work through!

But here's something I know. The best writing that I have ever penned on paper or typed from keys onto my computer screen has come from the depths. Great writing hurts. Great writing makes you cry. Great writing takes you out of yourself. It's scary. But great writing can also heal.

When you feel hurt or pain the next time you write, consider this.

What you write, if you write it from your heart, from your soul; if you allow your entire being to experience it, you will heal, but not only you, but that reader who is reading your book.

And I can't think about anything more rewarding than that.