Description
People will tell you writing is hard. That's a load of crap. Anyone with a pencil can scrawl a line of graphite across a page and call themselves a writer. Does that mean anyone can be an author? No. Only people who are willing to sacrifice their time and energy will cross the line that transforms an adjective (writing) into a noun (author). What's so effing hard about it? Joining one word to the next in such a way that it draws the reader through your story, evokes their primal emotions, and leaves them satisfied is a process not unlike walking on freshly scattered Legos. The necessary skill takes practice, time, effort, persistence, and a set of standards that reaches beyond the scope of your average layperson. The effort shakes your ego like a dog with a chew toy. It's the curse and the glory of the writer. In the beginning, every story is bad and stupid and the first part of improving it is recognizing how far you still have to go. That's the deepest, darkest secret to nailing down this writing stuff: knowing when it sucks, and sticking with it until it doesn't. Will you find solutions within these pages? No. I am not a brilliant author who can give you a step-by-step plan to improve your skill, but if you want to learn to write with competence and you're trying to figure out how to start I can set you on the path. I know this because I'm on it too. I know it's the right one because my standards are growing faster than my skill. Step inside for a very candid, very blunt look at becoming a better writer, and I promise you, I virtually guarantee, that you will improve at least a little, and all you have to do is invest the time it takes to consider my words and intelligently apply them.
A Story's Story - An Alternate Forward
