One of my most favorite blogs is 20-Nothings, a blog by now-LA based writer Jessie Rosen. Jessie and I probably have as little in common as two people could. She is a female under 30 living in Los Angeles who is giving the writing career an honest to goodness try and I am an over-30 guy on the East Coast who moonlights as a writer on occasion. But it is her honesty and rawness that makes me really like her blog.
Did I mention Jessie is also a writer?
As a writer, she often writes about writing, which is not that unusual for writers to do. Back in December, she wrote a great piece on what happens when writers don't feel like writing. She compares it to going to the gym - sure one day off won't kill you, but if you want that six pack abs or that below 10% body fat, you better suck up your laziness and get to the gym.
The creative process is about as easily explained as it is understood, but at its core, it is just another form of work. There are days when you'd rather procrastinate with absolutely anything rather than sit down to write the pages you need to write. I have re-organized my closet in ROYGBIV order; experimented with varying degrees of a smokey eye, thank you pixiwoo.com!; and assigned myself to a personal Quick Fire Challenge: vegetarian chili, contents of your cupboard, 20 minutes, go!
"But you're a writer!" you yell at yourself, "writers write!"
That is true, but that doesn't mean that we don't hate it from time to time. I know that I can write - I've done it countless times before - but that doesn't mean there aren't still days where I wake up gravely fearing the blank white page, days when I am certain I have no idea what I'm doing.
Amen.
Kinda reminds me of the hook from rapper Skyzoo's song "The Rage of Romello":
The rage of Roemello
My name tryna echo
Staring so long I swear the page saying hello
I'm hearing these songs but tryna change up the metro
It feel like he'ron the way I'm straining wit the let go
The rage of it all, I swear to God
