“I have to have a thousand bad ideas before I can get to a good one” (writer and director Aaron Sorkin). Every creative person can attest to the truth of Sorkin’s pronouncement, although we hope for fewer missteps before we find our footing. The notion of wading through the bad to arrive at the good is one impetus behind the advice to write every day. If you write infrequently, it can take a long time for a good idea to emerge. Odds are, you’ll have given up before then. Worse, if you wait for inspiration to strike, you may never begin. But if you trust that a gem is buried in the mud, you’ll slog through until it shines. Save and polish it. Then slog on, bypassing more bad ideas and collecting good ones until the piece is complete. More thoughts about writing at REFLECTIONS.
