Three months ago, I was sitting in a Starbucks recapping all of the things I had learned about writing every day for two months.
I made the decision at that time to focus entirely on improving my craft as a writer. Instead of worrying about how many people were reading what I wrote, I chose to focus on writing something worth reading, regardless of how many people actually saw it.
What I’ve learned since is that one never really sees growth as it’s happening. In fact, I’m not sure at all the ways in which I’ve progressed or not progressed as a writer. But what I do know is that I’ve written every day for the last 150 days, and with each day of writing, I get a little closer to… something.
I don’t know what it is yet.
But I do know that before somebody creates something worthwhile, there is a period in which they created a bunch of things that were not worthwhile, the “Unworthies” as I like to call them. That, to me, is unbelievably exciting. It provides me with such a sense of relief to know that I have started tackling all of my Unworthies, one by one, like little homework assignments that build and build into something much greater.
For any great master of their craft, there was a time in their life before they created their masterpiece. There was a time in Beethoven’s life when he had not yet written his 5th Symphony. There was a time in da Vinci’s life before The Last Supper. There was a time in Harper Lee’s life before she wrote To Kill A Mockingbird.
I always ask myself: did they know?
Did they know that they were capable of producing such great works of art? Did they even care? Or were they simply just doing their job, dutifully knocking out their Unworthies, until they landed on something that changed history?
I don’t know if I’ll create anything as impactful as Beethoven’s 5th Symphony or To Kill A Mockingbird. But that’s not the point. The point is that I have done the thing that is hardest for most people to do, which is to take the first step.
And I might not have figured out my “voice” as a writer or perfected the art of storytelling, syntax, vocabulary, or any of the other elements that constitute good writing. But I am on the path. I am doing it, and I have been doing it, every day, diligently, for five months.
Cheers to anyone who is completing their Unworthies. Because soon enough, as long as you stay on the path, you will finally reach something Worthy.
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Three months ago, I was sitting in a Starbucks recapping all of the things I had learned about writing every day for two months.
I made the decision at that time to focus entirely on improving my craft as a writer. Instead of worrying about how many people were reading what I wrote, I chose to focus on writing something worth reading, regardless of how many people actually saw it.
What I’ve learned since is that one never really sees growth as it’s happening. In fact, I’m not sure at all the ways in which I’ve progressed or not progressed as a writer. But what I do know is that I’ve written every day for the last 150 days, and with each day of writing, I get a little closer to… something.
I don’t know what it is yet.
But I do know that before somebody creates something worthwhile, there is a period in which they created a bunch of things that were not worthwhile, the “Unworthies” as I like to call them. That, to me, is unbelievably exciting. It provides me with such a sense of relief to know that I have started tackling all of my Unworthies, one by one, like little homework assignments that build and build into something much greater.
For any great master of their craft, there was a time in their life before they created their masterpiece. There was a time in Beethoven’s life when he had not yet written his 5th Symphony. There was a time in da Vinci’s life before The Last Supper. There was a time in Harper Lee’s life before she wrote To Kill A Mockingbird.
I always ask myself: did they know?
Did they know that they were capable of producing such great works of art? Did they even care? Or were they simply just doing their job, dutifully knocking out their Unworthies, until they landed on something that changed history?
I don’t know if I’ll create anything as impactful as Beethoven’s 5th Symphony or To Kill A Mockingbird. But that’s not the point. The point is that I have done the thing that is hardest for most people to do, which is to take the first step.
And I might not have figured out my “voice” as a writer or perfected the art of storytelling, syntax, vocabulary, or any of the other elements that constitute good writing. But I am on the path. I am doing it, and I have been doing it, every day, diligently, for five months.
Cheers to anyone who is completing their Unworthies. Because soon enough, as long as you stay on the path, you will finally reach something Worthy.
