Writing is messy

I loved this line, from Daphne Gray-Grant‘s “Power Writing” e-newsletter:

“Your brain is not a trained seal designed to perform tricks (such as excellent writing) on demand.”

Her point was that “perfectly formed prose” doesn’t just happen on the first try. That’s exactly why I recently said to a client, “Don’t confuse straightforward with easy.” Yes, the article I had to write was straightforward. The topic was not complicated. I had all the content of my interviews in front of me. That doesn’t mean turning it all into an interesting, readable article was easy, although I guess I must sometimes make it look that way!