The Write Way
The operating thesis for this essay is the following quote:
“Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.” – Gene Fowler
Writing isn’t easy. Anyone who says otherwise isn’t doing it right.
I’ve been writing since I could put a pen to paper, but I became far more serious about the craft of writing many years ago. My 11th grade English teacher inspired me to admire and appreciate the beauty of the written word and the troubling nuances of the English language.
In short, she inspired me to write.
Professionally, I’m a news writer – itself an art, albeit in a more truncated form. Writing news for radio is fraught with perils not shared by my literary contemporaries. Consider this: when you listen to the radio in the morning, what else are you doing? You’re getting dressed, eating breakfast, preparing for the busy day ahead. You aren’t sitting around listening to every word. Thus, the radio news writer must employ an economy of words – and write conversationally, as if we were sitting together at your kitchen table.
The listener can’t see my script. Puns and wordplay become the enemy of clarity. I was guilty in my fetal days as a news writer of trying to be too clever.
There is another enemy that isn’t exclusive to broadcast news writing: distractions. I’m easily distracted. Quite often, a banal distraction rapidly derails my thought process. Ironically, this essay was born out of a distraction. Distractions aren’t necessarily a bad thing – sometimes stepping away from writing can be a long-term benefit – but they should be minimized when possible.
Fowler was right. Writing is easy when all that’s staring back at you is a blank page or screen.
