If you've ever tried writing a children's book, you know that it's no where near easy.

Do you ever get annoyed with people when they scoff at the idea of being a writer because they assume it's so easy?

Omg yeah, and then they try it out and they say it wasn't for them, never acknowledging that it's that hard for everyone ha ha.

Yep! Or they say things about how they just aren't "naturals" at it or "don't like it"....which does the same thing to imply that it's "easy" for someone who actually enjoys writing.

The hurdle of getting it done might seem closer, if the word count it...what, 500 words? As opposed to a full-length novel that's a hundred times that length. But I understand that there's still the same mercurial creative process, like getting the idea, refining it, actually putting it into words that might tend to take less time but has a lot of the same traps during evaluation...

And then there's illustrating it, even if you hire somebody else to illustrate, that's still work that goes into it.

I must admit that I thought it would be easy to compile my poems and publish them maybe with a little illustration, like Pablo Neruda's Ode to Ordinary Things that I have a hardback copy of. But actually choosing poems that I'm proud of and that fit some theme of the compilation turned out to be pretty difficult, and if I tried to write more poems primarily to pad it, even though I also had some well of emotion to draw from... Yeah, it's difficult, never mind that I'm even unsure if anybody even actually sits down to read poems anymore, like a book by some upstart poet from cover to cover.

I might actually find novels or even short stories erring-closer-to-novella easier than a poetry book, lyrics compilation, or picture book for children...because full-on prose, at least, I've cozied in to a sort of structure for hammering out.

I am so sorry to post this here and be off topic, forum topics don't come naturally for me and all .

Elly why do your posts always have that big gap at the top? Is it something I'm doing wrong with my code or are you doing it somehow with magic? ha ha

You're not in trouble I am just baffled .

I've faced this kind of attitude before. As an author of children's books, it doesn't amuse me very much. 

There is a grain of truth to it, in that you definitely need to write in an "easy" language, so that kids can understand. Also, you need to take into account that they are still shaping their reading habits, so you can't throw a postmodern, fragmentary experiment upon their heads, for example. You must more or less stay in the traditional forms and the common words and expressions. So, it's "easier" to write for children.

What people don't realize is that it is actually harder to write this way if you want to tell a good story. "Easy" writing tends to be bland, and you need to fight that blandness with its own weapons; you can't go to your arsenal and grab the brilliant adverb or the convoluted sentence. You must use the tools of blandness (common words, plain constructions, expected paths) to defeat it and transcend it.

What it tends to happen, I think, is that there are lots of bad writers, and these writers end up writing books for grownups with the same language and structure one would use to write for kids. That writer might well think that since he or she is using those tools to tell a complicated story, then it must be easier to write a less complicated story using the same tools. And in a way that's true: it's easier to be bland and basic than bland and pretentious.

By the way, thanks for the comic! I take it as a suggestion, and I plan to use that line the next time I'm involved in that kind of situation. Will report.

I may not be the best writer, but I have great ideas and I think I am addicted to writing because I cannot stop. I am always amazed at how people think it is easy to write.

I have had some jobs and some careers and writing is the most difficult, but the most satisfying of them all.

Being a writer is hard work. It takes guts to persevere, often under difficult circumstances and against the tide. The thought of throwing in the towel is never to be entertained. When a writer sets out on their chosen path, they stick to it, regardless of the cost or the opinions of others.