Why is it funny? Because it is both discouraging and exhilarating.
Discouraging because it’s really, really hard to get the words to do what you want them to do. By this I mean arranging the words in such a way as to convey, accurately and precisely, just what a character is thinking or feeling. You know in your head what those thoughts or feelings are, now you have to set them down on paper, accurately and precisely AND in such a manner that people will want to read them. That’s hard, as any of you who have tried it have discovered.
The other discouraging aspect is the business of writing. You want people to read what you’ve written and that generally means getting it published. Sure, you can self-publish, which is getting to be a lot easier these days, but I – and I suspect most other writers – want to see their words on the page of a real commercial magazine or book. (You know what I mean.) And it is that fact which puts writers at the mercy of editors, publishers and, God help us, agents. You put your heart and soul into a story or essay or book and you send it off and at that point you pretty much have turned over your responsibility for what happens next.
(Now, this is not meant to be a rant about editors. I have come in contact with a number of terrific editors whose efforts have made stories I’ve written much better.)
Anyway, I also said writing can be exhilarating. Sometimes you just have to plough away, putting one word after another. Then you go back and rework what you’ve written and then you rework it again and eventually it becomes something with which you are satisfied. But sometimes, everything just comes together and there is a moment when you think, “Wow, that is really good!” And joy surges through you and you feel like you actually make your words do what you want them to do.
And that’s the best feeling in the world.
Yep, a funny business.