Michael T. Hare

I used to spend days worrying about the process of my book. I used to stress myself out when I had a block of unedited work sitting on my computer, even though I was exhausted and didn’t have the brain space to deal with it. Lately, that hasn’t been a bother.

I realized that, to be a good artist, I needed to love the process just as much as the product. If I go into every book imagining a thick hardcover by the end of the year, discouragement is bound to set in. My book isn’t a thick hardcover yet, and though hopes and dreams aren’t a sin, I need to treat my work realistically. I need to embrace the process.

I’ve heard that many artists appreciate the process, including a certain beaver from The Wild Robot: “The process is the art.” For me, the process was the worst part. It was what I had to endure to accomplish something great, but then where’s the joy in writing? Why write at all? Most of writing is a process, and if I hate the process, I inevitably hate what I do.

Here’s the thing. I love to love what I do, but if I don’t love what I do, I get… downtrodden, to say the least, but I’m not a quitter, and this weekend’s introspection revealed something interesting: Writing never had to become easier for me to like it. The key was shifting my perspective and seeing the process as what defined me as a writer, rather than what hindered me. If I’m writing, if I’m moving, and if I’m not giving up, I am a writer.

What followed was a sense of comfort I’d been longing for in my craft, and my mind has never been more peaceful. I’m up there with J. R. R. Tolkien, Jeff Wheeler, and Christopher Paolini simply because I’m chasing the dream, and I’m embracing the process.

Slow down, traveler, and take a deep breath. You have plenty of time, and you’re already enough. You’ll publish someday, that I am certain of. But learn to enjoy the process, because that’s the heart of writing, and it’s what we signed up for. Why not learn to love it?

P.S. I’m still going through the motions on my end, so I gave myself a gentle nudge the other day. It kinda worked, haha.