On writing: the dream of perfection

There is this moment before I embark on my new project. I have some writing behind me. Some ideas, sketches, but now I'm about to start the real work. The craft of writing and where I work on a draft that resembles a book.

This moment where it is perfect in my head and I imagine all the amazing things that will happen when I finish it. I plan how I'm going to write, where things will go, how it will begin and end and what is the journey that the reader will be taken on.

Then I begin, and the minute I do every word is already hard and heavy. It doesn't float out of me effortlessly, instead I'm engaging in an internal battle with myself as I reconcile my fantasy book, with the one I am producing.

Eventually the momentum takes over, and it's not so hard. Things begin flowing and I can see light at the end of the tunnel. I know this. I've been here before. But right now I'm in a funk. I have to get through this hump where I accept the reality of how hard it is to produce a good book. I have to accept the fact that it won't take five minutes. Instead it takes sweat and tears to keep digging deep.

The quote that writing is 10 per cent talent and 90 per cent perseverance is so true. So I will persevere. There will be days when it's hard, and there will days when it's easy. Today is hard. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.