Eating my Cake Without Wearing it, too

In my ideal world, many things would be different:

I could eat exactly what I wanted, and as much as I wanted of it, any time I liked and I'd still look like a runway model.

I could sit all day at the computer and then sit all evening with a book or a movie and yet I'd be as fit and as svelte as a marathoner.

I could even bark and growl when in a bad mood without having to apologize after I felt better.

In short, my ideal world is far from where we all live. Whether we call it karma, what-goes-around-comes-around, you-get-what-you-pay-for or the Law of the Harvest, the principle applies: We don't get the reward until we do the work.

I was reminded of this recently when I heard a multi-published novelist say to an aspiring writer, "Do you really want to write? Or do you want to have written?" She nailed it.

Holding the finished book in your hand, talking to people about your work, that's the payoff and almost everybody I know thinks that would be way cool. The everyday struggle with characters who won't cooperate and plots that go astray and writing blocks that just won't quit is the messy, no-nonsense WORK that goes into writing. The willingness to do that is what separates serious writers from the dilettantes.

And since I won't have the payoff without doing the work, I think I'd better get back to work now.