How should we approach writing?

Writer Steven King says that it should be done with seriousness.

I think he is probably right.

After all, if you approach art with anything less, you will most likely not end up sticking with it.

At best, writing that is not given the weight it deserves will end up as an infrequent hobby.

Go ahead. Start writing with no real plans or structure.

See where it takes you.

My guess is that you won’t be doing it a year from now.

The lesson is: Do not underestimate a blank page.

You can approach the act of writing with nervousness, excitement, hopefulness, or even despair—the sense that you can never completely put on the page what’s in your mind and heart. You can come to the act with your fists clenched and your eyes narrowed, ready to kick ass and take down names. You can come to it because you want a girl to marry you or because you want to change the world. Come to it any way but lightly. Let me say it again: you must not come lightly to the blank page. I’m not asking you to come reverently or unquestioningly; I’m not asking you to be politically correct or cast aside your sense of humor (please God you have one). This isn’t a popularity contest, it’s not the moral Olympics, and it’s not church. But it’s writing, damn it, not washing the car or putting on eyeliner. If you can take it seriously, we can do business. If you can’t or won’t, it’s time for you to close the book and do something else.

-Stephen King, On Writing

“The professional cannot allow the actions of others to define his reality. Tomorrow morning the critic will be gone, but the writer will still be there facing the blank page. Nothing matters but that he keep working. Short of a family crisis or the outbreak of World War III, the professional shows up, ready to serve the gods.”