Less an article and more of a wandering conversation between an emerging writer and an established one, this piece from Creative Non-Fiction provides some important messages.

“Writing is hard for every last one of us—straight white men included. Coal mining is harder. Do you think miners stand around all day talking about how hard it is to mine for coal? They do not. They simply dig. You need to do the same. … So write. Not like a girl. Not like a boy. Write like a motherfucker.”

Believing in yourself as a writer is not someone else’s job.

“Writing and revision are not two entirely different things, even though they demand slightly different things of us. One draft is your first best effort. The next draft is your next best effort, and so on. My process isn’t just to spill everything onto the page and call it a first draft. There’s nothing wrong with doing that—it’s just not what I do. I don’t call it a first draft until it’s the honest best it can be at that moment. It’s difficult to wade back into it and take it all apart to make it better, but I’ve never regretted having done so.”

Creative Non-Fiction is a hard copy magazine but it is also an interesting online resource.  Go and have a look.

“Writing is hard for every last one of us—straight white men included. Coal mining is harder. Do you think miners stand around all day talking about how hard it is to mine for coal? They do not. They simply dig. You need to do the same. … So write, Elissa Bassist. Not like a girl. Not like a boy. Write like a motherfucker.” – See more at: https://www.creativenonfiction.org/online-reading/writing-like-a-mofo#sthash.7sgFiTzJ.dpuf
“Writing is hard for every last one of us—straight white men included. Coal mining is harder. Do you think miners stand around all day talking about how hard it is to mine for coal? They do not. They simply dig. You need to do the same. … So write, Elissa Bassist. Not like a girl. Not like a boy. Write like a motherfucker.” – See more at: https://www.creativenonfiction.org/online-reading/writing-like-a-mofo#sthash.7sgFiTzJ.dpuf
“Writing is hard for every last one of us—straight white men included. Coal mining is harder. Do you think miners stand around all day talking about how hard it is to mine for coal? They do not. They simply dig. You need to do the same. … So write, Elissa Bassist. Not like a girl. Not like a boy. Write like a motherfucker.” – See more at: https://www.creativenonfiction.org/online-reading/writing-like-a-mofo#sthash.7sgFiTzJ.dpuf