A bit of a light-hearted post today because, well, it’s Monday, and I think we all need a little light-heartedness on a Monday.

So here you go. 5 things they don’t tell you about writing (but they probably should). And of course by ‘they’ I mean the mystical ‘they’ we talk about when we don’t actually know who ‘they’ really is. Covers all manner of sins.

It’s addictive

Like coffee or wine, it can be habit forming. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but when we first start out in writing I think many of us have quite a romantic view of it and the reality doesn’t always reflect that. It’s not a regular hobby or job. It’s a compulsion. A buzzy, druggy, wonderful, frustrating compulsion.

It drives you crazy

The mad writer might be something of a cliché, but I reckon there’s a bit of truth in there somewhere. Writing makes you go a bit loopy. The need to get your draft finished will send you mad. Or maybe we’re mad to begin with. That’s probably something that needs investigating. Is it that writers are a bit bonkers to begin with, or is it the act of writing that encourages the bonkers to set in in the first place?

Once you’ve spent several minutes contemplating that very question, this point (and this blog post) will start to make sense.

It makes you develop habits

And not just the habit of writing. In fact, the habit of getting writing done on a regular basis is, in many ways, just a happy by-product of the other habits you are likely to develop in your quest to be a writer. Habits such as making a cup of tea once an hour like clockwork, or rewarding yourself with a biscuit for every paragraph you write. Habits like Googling your name every day, just to see if there’s any change, or like checking Twitter once every five minutes as a shameless distraction technique.

It’s harder than you think

As any writer will tell you, writing is a hard business. It’s hard to be a good writer, and hard to make a career out of your work. We kind of all know this going into it, but it’s really one of those things that you have to experience.

You’ll always think you can do better

You may well have written a masterpiece. You may even be willing to admit that what you’ve written is quite good. But you’ll always think you can do better. There is always room for improvement, and the never-ending quest to be better is one of the best, most compelling and most bonkers-inducing aspects of writing.

What do you wish you were told about writing before you really got into it?