Greetings, writers—
Yesterday I spent all day trying to do one single thing. And in the end, I failed.
I wish I could say this failure had something to do with writing, because I’ve got encouraging words for that. Things that I say to myself or to my students; things that better writers than I have said to the world.
For example:
The only thing you can’t improve is a blank page.*
*Except that you can improve it—by writing on it.
Writing was never supposed to be easy, so don’t fret too much when it’s hard.
“A word after a word after a word is power.” (Margaret Atwood)
“A good poem [or story, etc.] is a contribution to reality. The world is never the same once a good poem has been added to it.” (Dylan Thomas)
"Great works are performed not by strength, but by perseverance.” (Samuel Johnson)
The perfect is the enemy of the good. (Various versions of this aphorism variously attributed to Voltaire, Montesquieu, and Shakespeare, but tbh I think I first encountered it in Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic)
I love it! You’re doing great. Keep going.
But it wasn’t writing that I failed at, and I didn’t know what to say to myself.
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