The key to building muscles, oddly enough, is to regularly and repeatedly expose yourself to pain. Not too much, not too little. Too much—torn muscles, tendonitis, bone spurs—is bad news. Too little is no news at all. Muscles grow when they’re stressed just enough to create micro-tears, producing those “feel the burn” moments that stimulate the body to execute repairs. Result? New tissue forms in the stressed areas, resulting in stronger, thicker muscles. But you have to stress the muscles over and over again for the gains to add up to a permanently changed body, a new you.
Writing is the same. It’s the repeated creative discomfort, the micro-tears, that cause you to grow as a writer. “Wimpy Self (whining loudly): But it hurts!” Writer Self: “Good! It needs to.” The stages of pain look something like this:
- Pre-Writing Angst: Wimpy Self: “What if I write crap?” Writer Self: “So write crap—at least you’ll have written something. Now get to it. And embrace the burn, baby!”
- Writing Badly: Wimpy Self: “I don’t like what I’m writing!” Writer Self: “So what? This is the vomit draft, remember? Heave, baby!”
- Re-Writing: Wimpy Self: “Ew! I hate what I wrote!” Writer Self: “So fix it. It can only get better. Push those edits! Give me one more rep, two more reps—feel the burn!
Months later… Wimpy Self: “It doesn’t hurt as much now, and the other day someone at my gym (writers group) actually said, “Hey, nice body (manuscript)!” Writer Self: “Told you so! But you still don’t have six-pack abs (brilliant character development) or massive pecs (strong narrative drive). You might turn out to be a real writer yet. But for now, it’s back to the gym, baby!”
Professional lifters never stop lifting. They live in the discomfort zone and learn to love it. Because they know it’s the key to building their muscles. Professional writers are the same. They live in the literary discomfort zone where they never stop building their creative muscles.
They learn to love the burn!
“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” ~Ernest Hemingway
“What doesn’t kill us gives us something new to write about.” ~Julie Wright
“Being a writer is a very peculiar sort of a job: it’s always you versus a blank sheet of paper (or a blank screen) and quite often the blank piece of paper wins.” ~Neil Gaiman
“Imagination is like a muscle. I found out that the more I wrote, the bigger it got.” ~Philip José Farmer
Mitch Teemley 
Such deep and painful truth spoken here! Or as another mentor (and yes, I put you in that category, Mitch) of mine once said, “Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.” Advice that makes no rational sense, yet is bursting with truth. Thanks (I guess) for this reminder.
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Happy/sorry to have provided the reminder, Russell. ;>)
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Very insightful, Mitch. I wish I could live in your brain for one day. Somehow, I know I would become a better everything from having done so.
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Oh, I don’t know, it’s pretty scary place, Kellye. ;>)
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I particularly like the Julie Wright quote.
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Me too, Liz.
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Hmm, very timely. Thanks!
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Happy to serve, Joy!
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I’m fairly new to writing and your post made me realize that I am a lazy writer. I’ve been relying on inspiration rather than work. Thank you, Mitch.
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Well, you’ve lazied your way into some good stuff, Don! Imagine what inspiration + work will produce!
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Hi, Mitch. Just wanted to let you know you always seem to move me where I am. Are you in my space by osmosis? Just asking. Love the post.
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Must be, Sandra! Glad the post spoke to you.
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I’m so glad to have read this today, Mitch. It’s inspiring to me. Thank you!
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My pleasure, Rhonda!
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This line cracked me up: “This is the vomit draft, remember? Heave, baby!” And the quip from Gaiman…blank paper (or screen) winning? Yes…but your encouragement to keep at it? Good stuff, Mitch! 😎
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Thanks, Victoria!
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I’m “heave, baby” -ing a mystery novel!😂
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Heave on, Vera!
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I’m lost in the metaphor, Mitch… Am I required to regurgitate the vomit draft? Or do I feed on fresh inspiration that will bring health and growth? 😂
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;>)
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Wonderful encouragement, Mitch, for those of us who have a love/hate relationship with writing. (That just might be the circumstance for every writer.) I’ll be copying some of those quotes in my journal–good stuff. Here’s another quote about the craft of writing which I appreciate: “Time spent discovering the right word or phrase that gives voice to your heart-cry is time never wasted” (Richard Faoster, from his book Coming Home).
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Excellent, Nancy. And Foster knows whereof he speaks.
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Consider how often you post, Mitch, you should be considered the Arnold S. of bloggers! Feeling that blog burn😉
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I’ll be back. ;>)
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Counting on it.
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Yup, you got to work them muscles.
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Thanks for this inspiring post, perfect timing! I have always liked Hemingway’s quote and enjoy the new ones as well.
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My privilege, Carolyn.
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Good post. Yes, you never stop practicing, you never stop improving your craft. I think of basketball players before a game. These are guys who’ve been playing since they were kids, but they still practice free shots.
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Exactly, Mike.
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Love this – especially the Julie Wright quote. 👍 How boring is the pain-free life?
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“If you want to be a writer ~ write!” ~ Ursula K. LeGuin
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Oh wow, this is so true, love it!Thanks for the motivation. Starting a new piece is the hardest part for me. Nice to connect with you Mitch! Thanks for the follow 🙂
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Delighted to meet you, Jeni!
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Great post Mitch. Writing becomes more meaningful the more we do it and the longer and more consistently we apply ourselves to the task. It constantly amazes me.
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Me too, Kate.
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Love this, Mitch. I can sooo relate to “wimpy self” xx
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;>)
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Nice post Mitch 🙂
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Thank you, June.
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Mitch,
No pain, no gain for sure. We have to stick it out day-by-day. Hope all is good.
In Christ, Gary
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Creative💖
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Really like this, because it made me think, what a good analogy, for healing from mental health issues, too. It is the same – tears to be repaired and we grow stronger and we evolve… really we do, imperceptibly little of course, but we contribute to it…
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What if I write Crap? So write Crap!
(Fun fact, Carp fish translates into Romanian as Crap 😅)
Good push, Mitch! We should write even when we don’t feel like it; we must exercise that muscle and improve day by day.
Have a great weekend!
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You too, Katherine! Now excuse me, please, I need to write some carp.
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😂🐟
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This is wonderful and motivating advice!! Thank you Mitch!!
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My pleasure, Katie!
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This is so true, dear Mitch. Thank you for the encouragement.
One special gift on Mother’s Day was a “lecture” from my son, telling me that I needed to stop agonizing and send my book draft to him for a first reading. 😉♥️
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Good for him! As long as your past the first draft/fixing obvious problems stage, Alpha readers can be very helpful in prepping you for your next rewrite.
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Great advice, Mitch. I can seriously relate to the “vomit draft!”
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What a beautiful article. Thanks
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My pleasure, Narayan.
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Great advice. Thank you! And I love the quote that imagination is a muscle!
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My pleasure, Stephanie!
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