Life Lessons from Writing

I don't know exactly what *disease* I've acquired this morning but it left me feeling a little nostalgic and melancholic. The ill feeling just won't go away so I decided to embrace these emotions and grab this opportunity to write something *sentimental*. So pardon me if I'm starting 2013 with an emo-sounding entry, hehe.

Anyway, here are some of the things that writing taught me.

1. Fall in Love

What we're writing about are books about love. Ergo, we have to experience loving firsthand to be able to write about it. 

We have to fall in love with this craft.
We need to be the first to fall in love with our characters.

We need to be in love with life.
We need to be in love with the concept of being in love.

2. Let Go

I've always used conceiving a child as analogy to writing, because I do believe it's an incredibly difficult endeavor to accomplish. Our works are our children, our labors of love. But there are times when we just have to let go. 
We have to let go of characters that won't jive with each other.
We have to let go of that plot/idea that isn't working.

3. Forgive Yourself

They say, we are our own worst critics. We tend to expect a lot from ourselves that sometimes when failure sets in, we find ourselves disillusioned. And then, we give up. 
We all have that one novel we're not very proud of. Maybe you're still disappointed about how a certain manuscript turned out to be; or you still remember that loophole-filled MS you once submitted. 
Along with the beginning of this year, let's all start anew. There is hope. There's enough time to redeem the writer in you.  

Ayan. Thank you for indulging the emo in me. :-)