Thirteen Ways of Looking at That Thing You Want to Write

I

Yeah, it’ll be hard.

There’s no getting around that.

II

The hard things are the good things.

It feels even better when you’re done.

III

No one is going to ask you to write it.

Except yourself.

IV

No one is going to tell you it’s good, worth it.

Except yourself.

V

No one is waiting for it.

Except yourself.

VI

If you are writing it, keep going.

If it feels impossible, you’re doing it right.

VII

If you think you’re done, read it one more time.

But just once. There’s only some much done it can be.

VIII

If you’ve sent it off into the world, good job.

You’ve done another incredibly hard thing.

IX

Let it have the life it is going to have out there.

You can’t control it once it’s out of your hands.

X

Write the next thing, even if that too is impossible.

You already did it once before.

XI

If it has returned to you, uncrowned, sit with it for a while.

It is ok to be disappointed. Know there are more countrymen than kings.

XII

The writing will always be there. It will never leave you.

You control that. You do that. You have that.

XIII

Yeah, it’ll be hard.

If it were easy then it wouldn’t be worth it.

XOXOXOXO,

Kate