icon caret-left icon caret-right instagram pinterest linkedin facebook twitter goodreads question-circle facebook circle twitter circle linkedin circle instagram circle goodreads circle pinterest circle

Scott Lax Blog

Nurturing Yourself as a Writer

Finn fitting some nurture play in between sword fighting with his wood sword (made by his Uncle Marc Bobro) and pounding the drums.
Writing well is difficult. Some don't agree with that. They're wrong. (How's that for a simple declarative sentence?)

But it's true: to write well requires some nurturing -- from yourself. How do you nurture yourself as a writer? To me, there's never been a better piece of advice than Ernest Hemingway's: “All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.”

Burn that in your mind and keep at it. Walk away from that sentence, or keep writing, it doesn't matter. But you'll know you wrote one true sentence and you can stop beating yourself up.

That is nurturing yourself as a writer. It doesn't involve treating yourself to a cup of coffee or going out to a restaurant, but it's creative nurturing.