from Paul Graham | by Paul Graham

"A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people." — Thomas Mann

I first noticed this in art classes. A beginner can't usefully put that much time into a drawing. However bad it may be after an hour's work, there's nothing *he* could do to make it better.

Another similar phenomenon: Experienced artists are much more willing to wipe something out and start over. There's more where that came from. Whereas inexperienced ones feel they must hang on to whatever they've done so far, because it cost them so much effort.

There's nothing I like more than deleting sentences from something I'm writing. It's so exciting when I can make a slow, dull passage race along. But few writers get to experience this. Certainly not those who've been told to write a "five page paper."