The Hardest Part of Writing

They say the hardest part of writing is the first line. Well, that’s done. That first line is down on paper…well, you know what I mean. So now what? What they don’t tell you is that after that first line, there’s a second. And a third. And so on until the final punctuation mark is down. And even then it’s not really ‘done’. Because the truth is, writing is never finished. Any artist will tell you, even after—especially after—a work is done, there are a million things they’d do differently. Because when it’s done, that’s when the critique begins. That’s the hardest part.

When Michelangelo finished his work on the Sistine Chapel, I can see him looking up at his masterpiece. And in that moment, amongst the cheering chorus of those blessed enough to set eyes upon it, I promise he saw the flaws. I imagine he looked up at what everyone else saw as perfection and could immediately point out where he would have used a different stroke, or a different brush, or placed a hand at a slightly different angle.

But that’s how it is with art. The artist is always his or her worst critic. So when the first line of any writing is done, that’s only the beginning of the painful process. The hardest part is far from over.