Writing is easy

[moderan]

I'm doing it now. Anyone who answers is writing back.
Fiction is telling lies. Either you're a good liar and want to tell extended stories, or you're lying to yourself. There's nothing wrong with either. This isn't value judgement-time. But you is what you is.
Inspiration is over-rated. Most writers just sit down and start writing. They have a stock of ideas on hand and often juggle multiple pieces, simply out of love for the act of creation and sometimes out of the need for increasingly small bits of filthy lucre.
Writing is a skill, a teachable, quantifiable ability. Effectiveness and skill level may vary, but the act is the same. It is putting words one after the other in an attempt to entertain, amuse, educate. If you don't enjoy that, then you should probably do something else, and own that.

[Sam]

Yes, and it's unnecessarily complicated by a lot ​of people.

[bdcharles]

Nah bollocks. If you're not suffering, if every keystroke is not like a stab to the eye, then you're not doing it properly.

[midnightpoet]

Well, blanket statements like that aren't exactly a logical fallacy, but maybe a relative. Well, Moderan did put in a qualifier. Let's just say some people find it hard (even some writers). I do agree, I can't help myself, I usually find time during the day to write something.

[Kit]

No wonder I'm terrible at lying, irl. It seems I need help on becoming a master of deceit.

[moderan]

I don't believe you

[ppsage]

Nah bollocks. If you're not suffering, if every keystroke is not like a stab to the eye, then you're not doing it properly.

You might be thinking of poetry.

[Terry D]

I'm doing it now. Anyone who answers is writing back.
Fiction is telling lies. Either you're a good liar and want to tell extended stories, or you're lying to yourself. There's nothing wrong with either. This isn't value judgement-time. But you is what you is.
Inspiration is over-rated. Most writers just sit down and start writing. They have a stock of ideas on hand and often juggle multiple pieces, simply out of love for the act of creation and sometimes out of the need for increasingly small bits of filthy lucre.
Writing is a skill, a teachable, quantifiable ability. Effectiveness and skill level may vary, but the act is the same. It is putting words one after the other in an attempt to entertain, amuse, educate. If you don't enjoy that, then you should probably do something else, and own that.

I used to think so too, Mod, but I was told very recently -- by someone convinced enough to use a very large number of words -- that I am wrong.

But, in all seriousness, I agree. One of my favorite how-to books about writing is Lawrence Block's, Telling Lies for Fun and Profit. I will admit, however, that the book was more motivational for me than technically helpful.

Inspiration is a great thing. It makes getting started less work, but it's far too often confused with motivation. Motivation we have control over. We can decide when to sit down and write. We can establish goals and create plans to achieve them. We don't have to wait for some ethereal muse to crap on our heads. Think of inspiration as an interesting co-worker; it's great to spend time with him/her, but if you make plans to meet for drinks after work and s/he doesn't show you can still get drunk (that's the motivation part). It just won't be as much fun at first.

[moderan]

Perzactly. Just establish a routine. Everyone knows how to create a habit. It's commitment-shyness that's the stumbling-block. I know publishing pros who suffer from impostor syndrome. Part of the writer's toolkit. We are all not worthy
The trick is to miss the ground

[Sam]

Even routines aren't strictly necessary, but they're nonetheless useful.

Sometimes I write for weeks on end, never taking any breaks, and sometimes I'll go two and three weeks without penning a thing because of other monopolisations on my time. But every time I sit down to the keyboard, it's like I haven't missed a minute. It's just there from years of writing on demand, anywhere, at any time.

The notion of having a muse, or waiting for inspiration to strike, is possibly the most self-limiting thing a writer can give credence to -- right up there with writers' block (oh, don't let this devolve into one of those discussions).