This persistent idea

by Phil Rickabywork, WritingPosted on No Comments

I have this idea that gets stuck in my head and won’t go away. I think its a good idea, but I’m not sure how to make it work just yet.

The idea is this: a coworking space for writers. Now, I know that these sorts of things already exist, but we make this more of a co-op. Everyone buys in and shares the cost of the space. Since people are creative at different times, the space is available to its members whenever they need it. If they are more creative during the day, they can come and use the space then, or if they write best at night, they can do that. This appeals to me because I have, in the past, done my best writing (or at least my most prolific writing) in a room with other creative people.

The idea goes a little further. So we all have access to the space when we need it, but it would be possible to book the space for a special event. Having a book launch? Having a play reading? Book the space for a night, charge an entry fee and kick a small percentage back to the space. These would help cover incidental costs that might come up, like repairs or internet or coffee. Occasionally, we might have a party in the space, charge a cover and use that cover to go into a fund for the space.

These are just ideas I’ve been batting around in my brain. None of them are even a little doable at the moment, because getting something like this set up takes money and at the moment that’s something I just don’t have. But I feel like writing this down is a good way to help solidify the idea in my head so that sometime in the future I can make it happen.

The secret of writing

by Phil RickabyWritingPosted on One Comment

So, for a long time, I’ve called myself a writer. I prefer the writing of plays over all other forms, so we’ll call me a playwright. But, the truth is that for a very long time, I haven’t done a whole lot of writing. I would have ideas. And I might write some down, but I would often get stuck and abandon the project. Because writing is hard.

And so, I read books. I picked up books about writing. About play writing. About story creation. About anything to do with writing. And I read them. And I was disappointed. Because what I was looking for was the secret. I was trying to find the shortcut. The secret formula or knowledge that would make the writing easy. Because I didn’t want it to be hard. Because I thought that if I loved doing something, it should be easy for me. And I did like writing, but not when it was hard. So I kept reading books on writing. And searching for the secret.

Over the last year, I’ve been writing more. I’ve been writing a lot in fact. And in working at it, I finally learned the secret that I’d been looking for. The secret of writing.

And I’m going to share it with you now.

Are you ready? Because here it is:
Writing is hard. There’s no shortcut. No easy fix. Sometimes the words come easily, and sometimes they don’t. And when they don’t, you keep writing. Because that’s what writers do. You get writer’s block, and you keep writing. Maybe you switch to something else, and then come back to it. But you keep writing.

And that’s the truth of it. You can read every book on writing that there is. But until you start writing, you aren’t a writer. And those books won’t give you any shortcuts. Or formulas. Because they don’t exist. You just have to write. Every day.

Once I learned this truth, I have been pretty prolific. I’ve been writing plays, and finishing them. Because I push past when its hard, to when it becomes easy again. Sometimes it gets easy, and sometimes it doesn’t. But I keep writing.

I think that I had read that somewhere, but I wasn’t ready to hear it. Because I was still operating under the delusion that it should be easy for me. But I was wrong.

Because if writing was easy, everyone would do it. It matters, because it’s hard. And its worthwhile because it’s hard.

And that’s the secret.

You’re welcome.