Writing is Simple… It Just Isn’t Easy

What I have discovered about writing is that it is a very simple craft.

“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” Ernest Hemingway.

Writing requires only time and your imagination. And your blood as Papa Hemingway used to say. Why do we write? Because we are writers of course. And as Roald Dahl once said “A person is a fool to become a writer. His only compensation is absolute freedom. He has no master except his own soul, and that, I am sure, is why he does it.”
The challenge is to write well. And as we have all found that it neither simple nor easy, especially to write well on a consistent basis. In fact Anthony Trollope had this to say on the subject “There is no way of writing well and also of writing easily.” But that doesn’t mean we can’t try for both.

But back to the simplicity of writing, which is where it all began. When we were children, at least for me, I wrote because I enjoyed it. I didn’t care about getting published or paid. It would be nice if others liked my writing, but that really didn’t matter, as long as they didn’t get in the way of my writing.

Many, many years later I am now just getting back to that simplicity. In some ways I have given up (almost) on what I expect to get out of writing and have given myself more freely to the craft. Yes, I will do my promo, but more now because I want to share what I write than what I can get back.

If I could, and when I can, I give away my writing today. Electronic copies don’t really cost anything to produce and while we could all use a few more dollars to pay for our upkeep, another dollar or two of royalties is not really going to make a difference, is it? And it’s better for a writer to have readers than money…. IMHO.

Self-promotion alert: See the bottom of this post for a free e-book offer!!

I have now written thousands of articles and blog posts and continue to write at least five new ones a week. I have seven blogs including four for my published books, one self-help and three fiction books in my mystery series. And do you know what? It never gets old or boring, even if I do sometimes.

And here’s my advice as a battle scarred veteran of the writing wars. If you are new or struggling with a piece or a blog or a short story of your first or tenth novel don’t give up. Just keep writing. If you are a writer, you will have no choice. You just have to.

Writing is simple. If you can make a grocery list you can probably create a blog post. (Just add clip art photos of the veggies that you need). If you can write an e-mail to your children or your parents you can probably write a short story. And if you can do that a thousand times you can certainly write a book. That includes writing and rewrites and edits and rewrites and comments from your beta readers and more rewrites after you’ve think you’ve just wrote a new Ulysses.

Pay attention to everything and everybody who gives you feedback but listen only to yourself. Writing is simple. Now stop reading blogs and get back to work!!

Mike Martin is the author of the Sgt. Windflower Mystery series. The third book in this series, Beneath the Surface, is just being released and will soon be available on Amazon.com and Chapters.ca

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Free E-Book Offer

As a gift to celebrate the release of Beneath the Surface Martin is offering a free e-book of the first book in his Sgt Windflower Mystery Series, The Walker on the Cape to readers of this blog post on The Story Reading Ape. You can contact him by email HERE to claim your reward (ENJOY and DON’T FORGET to leave a review – TSRA)

Blog – Walker on the Cape Website

Body on the T Website – Beneath the Surface Website

Facebook – Goodreads

Amazon.co.uk – Amazon.com – Chapters