Writing is half an art, half a science.

There are rules to follow, but when you know what you have to work with, you’ll know what you can achieve. This is where showing up comes to play.

There’s a theory that says that showing up is half the work. As Tchaikovsky says, the muse doesn’t always show up at your first invitation. You have to work at it, and sometimes it will take a while before it finally does show. Mastering your hesitation to work or create is part of the challenge and journey to mastering your craft.

It takes time for this to happen, and sometimes it takes a long time to happen. Practice, and setting a ritual for getting writing done, are training tools writers can use to get creative writing done.

Writing is half an art, half a science.

The science part is rooted in the process, in understanding what makes you love a specific piece, the choice of words, settings, ideas and expression. It is understanding how to improve the work you have or to refine it to tell your story better. It is the act of enhancing what you have, of taking a critical eye to a piece and pruning all the excess away.

The art part is learning how to write well. It is in learning how to put words together to make them speak, to make them sing, to make it pleasant for the reader. It is the part that involves pouring your heart and emotions out to onto paper and screen to make them feel what you are feeling.

Writing is half an art, half a science.

Everyone can read. Everyone can write. Hell, everyone “has a book in them.” But not everyone has the skill to bring that book to life. Writing to elicit emotions, to convey ideas, and to drive action, these take specific skills.

Remember, it is a skill. Not talent, but skill. Talent helps you master a skill quicker and more efficiently, but talent without practice is useless.

This is why showing up matters. Practising regularly, even when you are tired, demotivated, exhausted, turns even something like writing into muscle memory. Your body remembers and trains itself. Your mind is a muscle that can be stretched and expanded.

Some people go big, and then they go home. I used to think like that too. Over the years, I realise that celebrating the small wins, and keeping them in mind when I stumble, are far better than remembering the huge disappointments when I overextend myself. They keep me going longer and smile more, which is the most important bit.

Writing is half an art, half a science.

Put in the hours to write. Put in the time to learn what works best for you. But put in too, the time to care for yourself. If you find yourself stumbling when rambling, then learn to recognise it is an issue that affects you deeply. When you hit a block, especially if you are doing something like morning pages, respect yourself.

Take time to understand the person you view yourself as and the person you are confronting. Understand that the person in the mirror, on the page, in your head, is not your enemy (unless you have depression or have mental illness, in which case please know that I love you and I hope you find help or that you have a great support system because you are that kind of awesome person and many hugs but we’re digressing)… Understand that that person is another part of you and that person makes up the person you are.

You can either accept this person, work with them to sort out the issues in your life, or cut them out completely. Treat them with compassion, because they are a part of you, and if you cut them out, do it with kindness. Understand that loving yourself and being kind and open to yourself are not indications that you are fragile, but that you are strong and comfortable enough in your own skin like few ever are.

Writing is half an art, half a science.

Learn to enjoy the process of simply showing up to write. Be comfortable with the idea that no one else will ever see your writing. Learn to experiment with words, to change sentences, to play with different forms, all to understand what works for you.

Anyone and everyone on the Internet today presumably can read and write, but if you choose to be a writer, then own it. Write like an artist and pour your heart out onto whatever medium you want. Then write like a scientist and add or subtract to it until it says what you hope to say.

Writing is half an art, half a science.