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Just Because I Think This Is Easy, Not Everyone Else Does
Sometimes this is easy to forget.
I feel a veritable compulsion to write. Ideas come into my head, both for fiction and nonfiction, and I must place my hands on the keys and tap them out.
Sometimes this flows easily. My fingers fly across the keys, and before I know it, there’s a blog, a chapter, or some other work finished. Other times, I paused between lines, had to sit with it for a while, and maybe even torture it out. I have timelines and deadlines to meet, after all.
No matter how long it takes me, I find that flowing or not flowing, I do the work. Because even the toughest projects I face still bring me contentment. Writing is my stock in trade; it makes me feel most balanced and capable.
For most of my life, writing has been something I fall back on. When I started to write full-time, I found I was able to be more productive, whether I’m working on an actual book, an outline, a blog, or some other professional project. This is easy (relatively speaking).
But just because I think this is easy, not everyone else does.
Your mileage may vary
Many years ago, my best friend was often given projects by the local Chamber of Commerce to write some sort of advertisement, press release, or other document about an event. She was very good at this. But it usually took her a couple of hours. A couple of hours that, frankly, she didn’t have to spare.
So, sometimes she’d hand them off to me. What took her 2 hours usually took me about 20 minutes. It’s not that she is a bad writer or less capable, but that she doesn’t find the process as easy as I do.
I used to worry that my speed impacted my quality. But that’s not the case. I’m very cognizant of self-editing, of pausing and reflecting, and running spellcheck and Grammarly to look for typos and other errors. This is a matter of processing.
I think this is easy because my brain, hell, my heart and soul, love the process of taking the written word and creating with it. I love to write stories, blogs, and even professional projects for other people. Writing is one of my superpowers, and I enjoy it.
This is, however, not true for everyone. Your mileage may vary.
When I was in school, I loved essay tests. Yes, please, let me express myself and my answers in writing. But I knew people who found essay tests the worst thing ever. Torture.
Yet it’s still easy to forget that just because I think this is easy, not everyone else does.
This is easy – for me
Easy is, of course, a relative term. Like I wrote before, sometimes this takes more work than other times. At times, it flows easily and freely, effortlessly. At other times, I have to pause, reflect, consider, and seriously think everything out.
Also, sometimes I type too fast and my fingers trip. Seriously, I’ll be typing along and dropping letters, creating typos, and having to hit the backspace almost as often as any other keys to produce these sentences. And yes, I also know that I don’t entirely place my fingers correctly on the keys (and don’t even get me started on the difference between typing on my full-sized mechanical keyboard versus my laptop keyboard).
But relatively speaking, this whole writing thing, this art, comes easily to me. This is easy for me. But I know that this is not easy for lots of other people.
That’s one of the things we forget when it comes to art. Just because you find writing, painting, sculpting, fiber arts, or whatever easy, not everyone does. My wife can crochet a hat, scarf, or blanket, seeming out of thin air, in no time. I sometimes think it’s magic. But what’s easy to her isn’t easy to me, and vice versa.
Which brings me to my final thoughts.
It’s okay if this is easy or not easy
One other important truth about art is that even for the pro, it’s not always easy. Some of the best artists find their art challenging and hard, not easy, in any way.
Part of this is due to the truth of leaving any given comfort zone. Comfort is the wrong word for it. In truth, it’s a matter of stability. The stable zone in which you might exist might not be where you truly desire to be. Ergo, it’s necessary to leave your comfort zone. And that is seldom easy.
Making art, especially professionally, often requires a departure from comfort zones. So, it might not be easy, after all. That doesn’t mean it’s not right. Just because one aspect of this is easy doesn’t mean all the aspects of it are.
I write 3 different blogs a week, plus multiple worlds of sci-fi, fantasy, and other fiction. Some of these come easier to me than others. Again, what I define as easy you might not, and vice versa. That’s how the universe works.
Do what makes you feel the most alive, the most content. And if this is easy, and you feel bad about that (or bad about making your living from that), remember that just because it’s easy for you, it’s not easy for everyone.
Thanks for reading. As I share my creative journey with you every week, please consider this: How are you inspired and empowered to be your own authentic creator, whatever form that takes?
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