Is it challenging to be a writer?

I'm often asked, "Is it challenging to be a writer?"

Knowing how many books and short items I've published, would you be surprised if I answered "No"?

Unlike many people, I would definitely answer "No." For me, NOT being a writer would be challenging.

Here’s another way to think about the “challenge” of writing:

Is it challenging to be a talker?

YES, for some people, but NO for most. You have something to say, so you open your mouth and words come out attempting to convey that “something.”

Now, the same frame for writing, at least as it is to me:

I have something to say, so I sit down by myself and words come out attempting to convey that “something.”

I suppose if I had nothing to convey, then writing would be a challenge. So far that hasn't happened.

If you're about to feel challenged, try reading Weinberg on Writing: the Fieldstone Method 

This book has given thousands of writers creative and useful “things to do” when they’re about to feel challenged.

For one thing, the book is full of exercises that can get you going. In the simplest of all the exercises, all you do is take out your writing instrument (computer, pen, pencil, typewriter, ...) and write the word, "The ". Now you've started writing, so all you need now is to continue. Try it!