If You Write, You Win
I’ve got an uncomfortable question for you. I know, I know, I you didn’t come to Medium to get grilled, but read on, because this is the good kind of uncomfortable. The stretching kind. The fortifying kind.
Here’s the question.
When are you going to write today?
It’s a simple question, but if you’re a writer, it’s monumentally important that you have an answer. Because the muse is waiting for you, and she commands your attention. She wants to know what time you’re showing up to the workshop. And if you hesitate for an instant with your answer, well, friend, I don’t think I need to tell you, but she gets fired up.
Because she’s been saving gems for you, don’t forget. She’s calling down divine secrets to weave into a tapestry of wonder, and she’s ready to hand you thread upon thread that you can follow into her glorious realm.
But if you don’t show, she’s powerless to lead you. Saying so may seem dull and obvious, but it’s the truth.
If you don’t write, you won’t write.
And your muse will sit on her pedestal in the cold, dark room you’ve abandoned her to, and she’ll hold those gems until they vanish into the ether. Such a terrible fate for such astonishing beauty, waiting to be unleashed…
But…
If you do show up…
If you take a deep breath and step to your workbench and push the doubts and fatigue and inner critics out the door and slam it behind them…
If you face your muse and return her smile…
If you take up your tools and begin, and then persevere, and push through to the end of your writing block…
Then — then, my friends — you’ve already won.
I know it doesn’t feel like it a lot of the time, especially for those desperate to make writing their work, but trite as it sounds, don’t forget that you can’t control results. All you can control is your effort.
You can. And you must.
And when you heed that call and advance even a step in your chosen art, you have won yourself a victory. One more brick in the wall. One more league on your journey across the vast, open sea.
After all, that’s why we’re here, isn’t it? To advance the tale. To speak with force and clarity. To distill lightning. To make magic. To weave dreams.
And we do it one day, one choice, one word, one letter at a time.
So get in the saddle. There’s a wide open road ahead, full of adventure. And it’s waiting for you to come for it…
Thanks for reading! This one’s dedicated to my lovely wife, who’s writing her first novel, waking up before dawn every morning to make it happen. If she can do it, so can you. For more thoughts and musings, follow me on Twitter and Instagram, and subscribe to my podcast. Enjoy another post of mine below, or head to my profile and start browsing. Godspeed. I’ll see you out there.
