"Everyone lies about writing. They lie about how easy it is or how hard it was. They perpetuate a romantic idea that writing is some beautiful experience that takes place in an architectural room filled with leather novels and chai tea. They talk about their "morning ritual" and how they "dress for writiing" and the cabin in Big Sur where they go to "be alone" -blah blah blah. No one tells the truth about writing a book. Authors pretend their stories were always shiny and perfect and just waiting to be written.
The truth is, writing is this: hard and boring and occasionally great but usually not. Even I have lied about writing. I have told people that writing this book has been like brushing away dirt from a fossil. What a load of shit. It has been like hacking away at a freezer with a screwdriver."
~Amy Poehler,
Yes Please
I had a wonderful conversation with one of my teammates last night, somewhere before or after midnight. We were talking about roller derby and how there are moments that are sparkly and wonderful and you want to scream "Yeah buddy! I did a thing!" but for the most part, it's hard and sometimes you just want to sit down and cry for hours because you just can't get it. Then I started reading
Yes Please, a badass Christmas present from my brother-in-law, and I was like YES. THIS. There are some life lessons and shit right there.
Shit is mostly hard and boring, but because you slog through you get to create and witness something that makes all of it worthwhile.
So last year was mostly shit, but I wrote another book! Yessss. It was mostly poorly done, but it is finished and the next one will be better because I got through the first one and I learned some shit.
Hope y'all learned some shit this past year and that next year you have at least one Hell Yes moment.
