“What
is drawing? How does one get there? It’s working one’s way through an invisible
iron wall that seems to stand between what one feels and what one can do. How
can one get through that wall? Since hammering on it doesn’t help at all. In my
view, one must undermine the wall and grind through it slowly and patiently.”
-
letter from Vincent van Gogh to his brother Theo
van Gogh, October 22, 1882
I know Van Gogh was talking about
drawing (so I bet it especially rings true to all of you illustrators out
there), but I immediately saw the connection between this quote and the writing
process. How many times do we as writers or illustrators struggle to get what
is in our mind on to the page. We may imagine witty dialogue between two
characters, and even ‘hear’ it in our heads, but when we write in on the page,
it comes across as flat and quite boring. How many times do we hit that
invisible iron wall?
One of the things I keep reminding
myself during this summer writing challenge is the benefits of practice. If I
only sit down once a week or even once a month, and expect amazing prose to
pore from my mind on to the page, then I am kidding myself. Not only that, I’m
actually letting myself down. Because if I only write infrequently, it may be
“okay” or “pretty good”, but how much better could I be by practicing my skills
every day?
I know that writing every day
doesn’t guarantee that I’ll write brilliantly each day. In fact, I am sure
there will be many days that I will write very little that may be salvageable.
But the important thing is that I will be moving forward. As the quote states,
“… one must undermine the wall and grind through it slowly and patiently.”
Slowly and patiently grinding through it. That’s what daily writing and
illustrating is all about. And eventually, we will all have our own
masterpieces.
Want to join the summer writing
challenge? Click here for details. We’d love to have you!
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