Today’s edition of Passages features one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite authors, Ernest Hemingway.
Write hard and clear about what hurts.
I’m sorry, I can’t give you the exact context for this bit of writing advice from one of America’s most beloved/hated authors, but it’s darn good advice just the same.
As authors, we open ourselves up daily. To rejection. To ridicule. To judgment.
To hurt.
But, once we get past that idea, we begin to heal.
Relief may not be immediate, but it will come. By dealing with our feelings, by accepting truth, and by being clear about it, we begin to grow and leave the hurt behind.
It feels good to get that hurt down on the page. By doing so, we give it a place to go. We take away its power over us. And although our hurt may never go away, with each revision, it hurts less and less.
How do you feel about Hemingway? Love him or hate him?