Easy As Pie

Someone told me recently, and I quote, "You writers (flattered that I am considered to be one, though I think all of us are writers, just that most haven't found their story) have it so easy. All you do is move a few fingers and you get a check in the mail."

Ouch, not entirely devoid of truth, but still, I disagree.

Edison said "Genius is 99 per cent perspiration and 1 per cent inspiration."

I think, writing, like genius and every other thing in life, is a truckload of hard work and a brief flash of a inspiration. God know's how much paper and ink I've wasted, not to mention the massive amount of electricty consumed to write with a keyboard.

Hemingway said "There is nothing to writing, all you do is sit at the typewriter and bleed." It's nice, you know, to bleed. Not hard at all. Like tofu.

But sometimes, I think that, for all the bleeding, you get a nice story and at the end of the day, you get (maybe) a check in the mail. Yay.

Because, if there is a certainty, it is that I write better when I am emotionally involved in a situation, and to reproduce that feeling into words I will have to relive a particular memory. Or a particular emotion.

At times, it means reopening wounds, but at other times, it could mean the healing of another and in some cases, to reset a broken bone would require re-breaking it. That pretty much sums up the darker side of what I do, but that's only a side of the coin. Writing is also hopeful, and it brings joy. Writing is inspired, and in turn, inspires.

Regardless, I do know one thing, though, that anything that is worth anything is never easy. It is only when you have to bleed for it that it becomes something.

Your bleeding will dictate its worth. And no one ever said it'll be easy, just that it will be worth it.
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