Sep 29, 2021
Writing is Hard (Not Easy)
Alright. I have a myth I need to bust, and it’s going to take more than one post because… there’s layers.
First layer: Writers are *not* people who experience writing as “easy.” Writers mostly experience writing as tortuous and awful (but like, in a good way).
Yes, we have a gift for expressing complex ideas & emotions, and yes, we know how to take a piece of raw writing and chisel away the excess to reveal the David underneath, and yes, we’re pretty good at writing uncomfortable emails.
But I have never, ever met a writer who describes their process as “easy.”
Even when The Flow happens—when the words are flying from your fingertips and you feel like you’re living in a movie montage, wearing an oversized sweater & filling the room with curls of smoke from cigarettes even though you’re not a smoker…
even when it’s good—ESPECIALLY when it’s good—it fuckin wrecks you.
The Flow is the dream, the holy grail, the reason we show up to the keyboard every day. But when it DOES show up, it leaves you totally, emotionally wrung out.
Look. I’m not complaining—I wouldn’t have it any other way. (And no, writing nurture emails for my clients does not turn me into an emotional wreck. Mostly.)
But what I AM doing is—
… encouraging you to charge accordingly for your creative work
… pushing back on the idea that writers are people for whom writing is easy
… and setting the stage for Post #2, which will take down this (extremely capitalist) idea that there such a thing as “work that doesn’t feel like work”
Stay tuned for that shit.
About Sam
Samantha Pollack is a Copywriter & Creative Director who works with ethically minded, mission driven businesses who are actively trying to reshape our culture (and possibly tear down the patriarchy). She’s also the founder of The Highly Sensitive Business Owner, a 12-week online program that helps HSPs & neurodivergent business owners create healthier, more sustainable systems in their work.
Sam also writes about feminism, privilege, pop culture, entrepreneurship, the creative process, and whatever else is on her mind. She currently lives in Asheville, NC.
Emails for cult thought leaders.
(Personality included.)
Want to learn how to craft emails that inspire action and engagement WITHOUT the “tried and true” (cough: patriarchal) norms we’ve all been taught?
I’m doing it, and I can show you how to do it, too.
(But sometimes, I also like to write about the books I’m reading, or the creative process, or the entrepreneurial experience, or why I hate Steve Jobs, or how I met my BFF. I’ll send you emails like that, too.)
*Just kidding. It’s only an email list.
Books. Cats. Rants. Drawrings.
(and every couple months or so, an unexplained absence 🤷🏻)
