I often wonder how the joy of writing fades. I think some of that comes from why we liked to write in the first place. Its a lot like math in that respect. I loved math when I was a kid, because I could fly through the times tables and everyone thought it was absolutely cool. As I got older the math was tougher and the rewards were few and far between. Success didn’t reward nearly as much as failure penalized. For so many of us writing has come to embody that same philosophy. Few people are going to pat you on the back if you’re a great writer. Moreover, the idea of ‘good’ or ‘bad’ writing is almost entirely subjective.
As a result, many writers wind up disconnected from their feelings about writing and viewing the writing as more as a chore and a bore than something that helps us makes sense of the jumbled mess of emotions, thoughts, goals, and drive that constitute our soul.
The thing is, writing must come from the soul. Writing must allow you to connect with your creative self. I recognize that essay writing, such as the stuff done in college, doesn’t appear to allow you to access that creativity, but below the surface is a scalding lava flow of creative opportunity. Essays don’t have to be rote and dry. They should be a combination of form and passion.
The best writing comes when we are able to connect with the topic in some way and allow ourselves to stop thinking about how other people will feel about what we write or even how afraid we are to get those emotions out into the world, and to just sit down and write.
This year I want to get back to really enjoying the process of sitting down in front of a screen or with a pen and paper and just letting the words come out. All of the beautification and error checking comes as part of the revision process, which is the step that most collegiate writers skip entirely. That is what leads to a lot of collegiate writers and even professional writers thinking they are bad at writing or dismissing the written word entirely.
I like to think about writing the way I do about sports and even romance. If I quit the first time I swung a bat at a ball and missed, I would’ve never known the joy of connecting. If I gave up on finding a partner the first time a girl said, ‘no way, dude. You suck’ I wouldn’t have three incredible boys. It is easy to quit and easier to do so when everyone around you wants to quit too. We find camaraderie in failure, but guess what? We can find a greater camaraderie in success.