Many of us have a tendency to get frustrated when our work gets difficult. Writer Jon Acuff reminds us of one very simple truth: if you’re doing your work well, it’s supposed to be hard.
While he describes the process in the context of writing a book, the principle is nroadly applicable. Many of the most rewarding jobs are also some of the most challenging. Whether you’re an on-call doctor, a scientist at NASA, or just trying to get published, you’ll get held up, stretched thin, overwhelmed and bogged down. But these aren’t obstacles. They’re the normal process:
Writing a good book is a battle. You fight fear and laziness and doubt. Good books take vulnerability and courage and creativity to write.
Do you know what it takes to write a bad book?
Typing.
It may sound trite, but being able to recognise in the moment that your stress is exactly what’s supposed to happen can have a positive effect on your attitude. And positive thinking carries with it a host of benefits.
Comments
4 responses to “‘Good Books Are Hard To Write, Bad Books Are A Breeze’”
Article is informative and concise; serves as a good reminder for everyone. However shouldn’t ‘nroadly’ be ‘broadly’?
*cough* *cough* Twilight *cough* Fifty Shades
Prime example of how a badly written book is still easily sold to the masses
Well, to be fair, the fact that Twilight is “badly” written doesn’t mean that the author still didn’t sweat over it. I will happily concede that Twilight is badly written though. It was so freakin’ painful to labour through. However I think both of those examples are better noted as how the quality of writing is sometimes less important than the idea behind it. If you’ve got a great idea, it can forgive a multitude of sins.
Or just do what steven king does, write as many as possible and occasionally one will be good.