The other day, I read a great tongue-in-cheek blog by a writer discussing how writers hate writing.
I’m one of them.
Not every day, you understand. Writing and I have a love/hate relationship. On the days when it’s going well, when the words are flowing, I wouldn’t trade this job for anything in the world. When one of my book covers first shows up on Amazon, I’m so excited I could happy dance all over the house. When my critique group meets, and we talk all night about our imaginary worlds, it’s bliss. When I hear from a reader who was touched, who says one of my books eased her through a tough period, I’m humbled and send up thanks that I got a chance to do that.
But there are other days.
Days when the words won’t come, at least not good words. My images are cliché. My people are illogical. My plot has been done to death by a hundred better writers. Days when I stare at the screen with a sinking heart, sure that the well has run dry, and my career is going to die of thirst.
On those days, yes, I hate writing. I have been known to look longingly at jobs in the paper and think, I wish I had a job like that. A job (or so I fantasize) where there was a right/wrong, a good/bad, a yes/no, and I didn’t have to live in this constant state of judging shades of gray. A job where a “mistake” didn’t mean anything about your soul, your heart, your inner worth. A job that didn’t require being in intimate touch with your emotions, so that you could still do it even if your mother had just died, or you’d had a fight with your husband, or the doctor said you need surgery.
And yet, I’m celebrating the release of my 35th title this November. My first book came out in 1987, twenty-three years ago, and I’m never giving it up. Never. Does that make me schizophrenic? Maybe. But it also makes me human.
And clearly I’m not alone in this craziness. Here are some quotes (mostly from Quote Garden), in which famous writers clearly show that both love and hate are pretty common:
There’s nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein. –Walter Wellesley “Red” Smith
I love writing. I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions. –James Michener
Writing is a sweet, wonderful reward. —Franz Kafka
Writing is easy: All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead. –Gene Fowler
All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath. –F. Scott Fitzgerald
Writing is the only thing that, when I do it, I don’t feel I should be doing something else. –Gloria Steinem
Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand. –George Orwell
I don’t like to write, but I love to have written. –Michael Kanin
Real writers are those who want to write, need to write, have to write. —Robert Penn Warren
And my personal favorite:
There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are. —Somerset Maugham
What about you? Do you love writing, hate it, or both? Do you have a favorite writing quote to share?
Kathleen O'Brien Online - Blog 