The secret to writing is…writing

This is kind of a continuation of a previous theme.

I work out with a group of people on Tuesday nights. A friend of mine named Daniel showed up at last night’s workout (I’m writing this on a Wednesday morning) and we talked about various things. At one point, he said, “I don’t know how you do the writing you do. You just sit down and do it and have something every day. It takes me forever.”

I considered telling him about my superhuman skills and moral superiority, but decided not to. Instead, I alluded to the workouts we’d just done. There’s a move called a an oblique pushup. You get in pushup position, then while you’re doing the pushup, you raise your right knee toward your right elbow.

I can do maybe two of them, and when I do it, I look like a dog with a lame back leg. Then again, I’ve only been trying to do oblique pushups once a week for maybe six weeks. It’s no wonder the people in the video can make it look pretty and powerful and I make it look like I need a trip to the vet.

I’m like that guy in the back of the picture. I got the basic stance down, but I look at the push up and…I’ve got the basic stance down.

It’s the same thing with writing. I’ve been doing this blog for almost three years. Before that, I did another blog for about six months. After you do something a lot time, you start to get better at it. And after you’ve done something you’re decent at for a long time, you can make it look easy.

So, if you’re starting, and you feel like you need a trip to the vet (or the nearest watering hole) after you try to write a simple blog post or a chapter of your work in progress, that’s okay. Next time that happens, just think of me trying to do an oblique pushup. Last week the neighbor came by and said, “You know the humane thing would be to just put him down and end the misery.”

Dude, I’m out of shape, not deaf.

It gets better, but you have to keep at it.

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