I was recently struck by this metaphorical punch in the gut from William Zinsser’s book On Writing Well:
“The essence of writing is rewriting.”
The best writer in the world doesn’t sit down and create a finished, polished, publishable piece. They sit down, they write and they dance with the voice that tells them it’s terrible. Then they review. Then rewrite. Then dance with the voice some more. Then repeat this process. Over and over again until eventually, it molds itself into something worth sharing.
Day by day, word by word, iteration by iteration.
The lesson I take is that if you, like me, feel stuck every once in a while (ie every day) start by giving yourself something (anything) to react to.