The Flip Side to Writing

I had a really interesting conversation with a musician friend of mine a while back. I keep bombarding her with songs I like, and 99% of them time she won't enjoy them like I do. You could put it down to difference in taste—and that's definitely part of it—but she told me something once (while rejecting yet another song) that really made me stop and think.

"It's hard to enjoy music as much as I used to. Now that I'm familiar with the process and what it takes to make a song sound the way it does, it's hard not to spot mistakes or things that I don't like, which never happened before. It's harder to enjoy music now that I make it too."

Which got me to thinking about books. About books and writing.

Light Bulb

You know that little light bulb that goes off in your head? When you realize something that's really really obvious?

I had one of those the other day.

Basically, it's this:

Write what you want emphasized.

I know. I know. This is painfully, embarrassingly obvious. Right?

Well. Not necessarily.

Everybody Needs A Friend

There are a million different ways to improve your writing.

Writing (obviously).

Reading.

Reading books on how to write.

Reading articles/tips/blog posts on how to write.

Writing some more.

Reading some more.

Writing. . . .

Reading. . . .

(You get the picture.)