The Difference Between Writing Something Beautiful and Writing Something True

There is a strange moment every writer experiences.

You sit down with an idea you’re excited about. A sentence begins to form. You know what you want to say. You know what you feel. But then, somewhere between the feeling and the page, you start trying to make it sound like something else.

You reach for bigger words. You make it more poetic. You make it more impressive. You start thinking about how it will be received instead of why you needed to write it in the first place.

And somewhere in that process, the thing you were trying to say becomes quieter.

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