I forgot the First Rule of Writing…

My 3 am rant after four hours of starring at a blank screen:

I have somehow, no…not somehow but out of shear practice become exceptional at avoiding work, writing. Why? Because its work and I hate work. Someone once said “I hate to write but I love to have written.” But isn’t the journey supposed to be the point not the destination? But I suppose writing is different because maybe it isn’t fun, well maybe sometimes when I get an epiphany or I sum up a point brilliantly, but those are rare. So writing is hard, difficult, frustrating, irritating… so I guess maybe what I have to ask myself is: Is what I’m writing worth the pain? And if I feel like my current work isn’t worth it, do I stop or do I rework it till it’s worth the pain? Find the message in the work I wish to tell, they say. Or maybe there is no message maybe this work of fiction is simply supposed to make the reader happy, make them laugh and smile. I’m not trying to change their world view or the way they think but simply draw them into my story and hope that have a great time reading it and in those few moments when they sit down to read the pages that I suffered to write they are entertained. Then I will have done my job. That is my job. That is my work, that I seek out to do. Take the reader for a ride and impact their lives for those few moments between cover to cover.

I forgot the first rule of writing. Just write. Stop over thinking it. Just write. Worry about the rest later. Right now is the easy part. Just write. It doesn’t even have to be the book, the article, or the story. Just write. Write about your frustrations, your procrastination. Just write. If you’re writing a book just write till the draft is done or even better write more than you need. Because this is the easy part. The hard part comes later, when you have turn it into a story. Then you have to find your voice. What is the voice? The voice is me, it’s the personality of the book, of the story teller. I’m telling the story, so who do I want to be? Do I want to be an instructor teaching the reader, or a friend telling of past adventures. Or am I taking you along with me on a journey?

That comes later. For now…