Experienced writers know good writing starts with a lot of mediocre work

Nobody writes a viral article or an award-winning script their first try.

Like any craft worth pursuit, writing takes careful practice.

Starting as a writer can be daunting because, typically, you start off writing garbage.

Incoherence plagues your paragraphs and ideas float between sentences without touching down concretely. This is how all writers begin their writing careers.

But writing garbage is nothing to be ashamed of, because it’s a process inextricable from becoming a better writer and learning the craft.

The writers who “make it” — not just the famous ones, but the financially secure ones — aren’t always the most talented.?Over a long enough time, talent becomes moot out and consistency becomes the differentiator.

In effect, the writers who "make it" are the writers who never stopped writing.

These writers pushed through the painful process of being a beginner, and eventually they were no longer rookies.

Certainly it’s possible to be a talented wordsmith, or more verbally articulate by accident or by luck. But tapping into innate gifts remains a steep task — that’s where the diligence and consistency come into play.

Diligence should take priority over talent for writers because it is far more reliable.?Diligence takes care of you when your talent or spark of genius fails to show up.

And, a diligent writer is a consistent writer, one who writes regularly, no matter other activities.

The pairing of diligence and consistency lends itself to a simple arithmetic: volume precedes quality, not vice-versa.

You become a good writer through writing a lot. Volume skyrockets for writers who write diligently and consistently. The quality of writing improves over time and with more and more practice.

Quantity first, then quality.

This article originally appeared on philrosen.blog.

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