Writing is hard

I wish I could simply let that statement lie. It's certainly true, at least when you know enough to realize that you're competent enough to be readable, yet will never become a literary icon. But saying 'it's hard' barely scratches the surface of the work involved, the toil, the sweat, the frustration, the fear... the madness.

I know writers whose words on the page never reflect the glory in their minds and they remain paralyzed or bitter or desperate and failing.

I know writers who find the simple act of composing a single word a task of great and terrible magnitude, a burden, a crushing, exhausting toil.

I know writers who push and push and strive and push some more, to have many books or big sales or fame, fortune, and bestsellerdom, often pushing so much toward 'success' that they push the rest of their life aside.

I know writers who write for art's sake, and anything mundane, simple, straightforward never measures up to the purple prose in their hearts.

I know writers who focus on plot, often at the expense of character.

I know writers who focus on character, often at the expense of plot.

I know writers who follow trends others set and are always tagging along behind, hoping to catch someone's shadow and grab it for all it's worth.

I know writers who never write. Anything. They just hang with other writers and try to talk the talk.

I know writers who work, but never play with the words.

I know writers who play but have no concept of writing as a job, nor would they want to.

I know writers who follow sets of pre-established rules for all aspects of their work, even going so far to have books and books of spreadsheets for characters and places in a single novel.

I know writers who make it all up as they go and get lost along the way.

I know writers who write to escape a horrid place within their own lives or memories.

I know writers who write to tell everyone how grand their life is.

I know writers who must inform the masses of their opinions, whether anyone wants to hear or not.

I know writers who are so afraid of offending anyone that they cannot stand within their own narratives.

I know writers who breathe to write, and those who write so they can breathe.

I know writers who must drink or be stoned to create, and those who write so they don't have to drink or be stoned to live.

And, I know writers who realize it's a job, a long, lonely job, but try to make the best of it. Even when it's hard.