“You want to write? Then put your butt in that chair, and sit there for a long, long time.” (Part 1 of 3)

Max Lucado said this in his keynote address at a writer’s conference I just attended. He wasn’t speaking to the audience, however. This is the plaque he reads every time he sits down at his desk. Whether you are writing a paper for a class, hashing out a sermon, or submitting an article, the first draft is not going to cut it. Good writing doesn’t just happen. It’s Work.

A friend of mine casually mentioned the other day that he wants to eventually write “on the side”. He wants to address some deep theological issue, or maybe write about his life … he ended his thought by saying, “Writing is simple.” Is writing simple? Perhaps. Is writing something that others would take the time to sit down and read simple? Hardly.

So what if you’re writing an academic paper on a subject you aren’t really interested in? Write it with the intent of making it interesting and with excellence so that others (aside from your mother) would want to keep reading. Practice with these “deadline” papers, so when you encounter a subject you really want to write about, you will know how to write in order to connect with your reader.

This takes us back to Lucado’s “refined” yet absolutely true statement: writing takes time. Good writing takes practice, just like everything else. It separates the “goods” from the “greats” – the “who’s that?” from the “Michael Jordan’s”. EVERYONE knows who Jordan is. Is basketball simple? Maybe. Jordan took it to a new realm. We have the potential to do this in our writing. So aside from time, how do we get there? It’s called …

Rewriting.