Writing not only requires humility, it demands humility. The sense of accomplishment may be a bit premature or it may be valid, but it is probably short lived. вЂњOh, IвЂ™ve got this,вЂќ as the focus is crystal clear, the muse is bouncing on your shoulder spewing garlands of poetic prose. There are days when youвЂ™re just humming along. Whatever is going on in our own unique bio-chem soup of emotions, it is often easier to hit вЂњsendвЂќ than to get it out there in the first place. It grows with each revision, each word selection. But I find, in a funny way, once the work is on the paper, or on the screen, confidence rises up. Writing the courage to put your own insecurity - that uncertainty and anxiety that comes with the new and unfamiliar - aside in the service of the endeavor. Writing, whether as a rookie or a veteran, requires the courage to be emotionally susceptible. YouвЂ™ve revealed you have the courage to step outside of your comfort zone. Taking up the mental exercise of focus, gingerly attempting to practice with diligence until the practice is a practice, youвЂ™ve revealed something essential about yourself. Writing requires exposing your most vulnerable and insecure selfвЂ¦and that my friends, takes courage.

And being willing to work, to be diligent about attaining it. ItвЂ™s hard, the diligence thing.Дiligence wraps up focus and practice in a tidy bundle because diligence is about wanting it. YouвЂ™ve got to be committed to getting better, to wrestling this tiger to the ground. Even worse, diligence is like commitment. ItвЂ™s too hard to be half-assed about it.Дiligence is not quite like focus, not quite like practice. If youвЂ™re serious about writing you have to be all in. But I do know that IвЂ™ll be a better writer. In a million years of practice, IвЂ™m pretty sure IвЂ™ll ever join the ranks of, say, Margaret Atwood. (Please note I didnвЂ™t even list вЂdisciplineвЂќ as a reason writing is hard so as not to scare you. Once youвЂ™ve fallen out of the practice of practice, itвЂ™s much, much harder to write. By the third week the only thing thatвЂ™s easy is to say, вЂњnot todayвЂќ. And post frequently, here on Medium or a platform of choice. The pros, the charlatans hawking writing e-courses, they all say youвЂ™ve got to write practice, a lot. Sometimes the effort leads nowhere, stuck in a slimy, unformed state of mental goo. A walk in the woods (or park), jotting down notes, the first draft of random thoughts before a piece starts to gel. To express ideas in a way they havenвЂ™t been expressed before starts with focusing on what the hell those ideas are about in the first place.Д®veryone has their own method for drawing focus to a topic. ItвЂ™s one thing to say, вЂњhereвЂ™s a topicвЂќвЂ¦.and quite another to say, вЂњHereвЂ™s what I have to say about this topic that is interesting, fresh, and authentic.вЂќДЄnd that requires a laser focus on your central point, your core argument. It sounds simple, right? But hereвЂ™s the first catch: topics donвЂ™t fall from trees. It doesnвЂ™t sound hard, does it? Just a matter of the muse sitting on your shoulder, whispering in your earвЂ¦ or not. Alternatively, you are in the same positions but with paper and a writing utensil, scrawling away.

You sit there, or lie there, or stand there with a fancy crank-up desk, and punch letters on a keyboard. While the synonyms mar and hurt are close in meaning, mar applies to injury that spoils perfection (as of a surface) or causes disfigurement.Never mind doing it well. While in some cases nearly identical to hurt, injure implies the inflicting of anything detrimental to one's looks, comfort, health, or success.Д«adly injured in an accident When is mar a more appropriate choice than hurt? Years of smoking had impaired his health When would injure be a good substitute for hurt? Specifically, impair suggests a making less complete or efficient by deterioration or diminution. The words impair and hurt are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. The words harm and hurt can be used in similar contexts, but harm often stresses the inflicting of pain, suffering, or loss.Д¬areful not to harm the animals When could impair be used to replace hurt? Hurt by their callous remarks When can damage be used instead of hurt?ДЄlthough the words damage and hurt have much in common, damage suggests injury that lowers value or impairs usefulness.ДЄ table damaged in shipping When might harm be a better fit than hurt? While all these words mean 'to affect injuriously,' hurt implies inflicting a wound to the body or to the feelings. Some common synonyms of hurt are damage, harm, impair, injure, and mar. Frequently Asked Questions About hurt How is the word hurt distinct from other similar verbs?

Simple writer hurt