A Movie Critic

A Movie Critic? A Writer.

Roger Ebert on the joy of writing

from Life Itself: A Memoir

“When I write, I fall into the zone many writers, painters, musicians, athletes, and craftsmen of all sorts seem to share: In doing something I enjoy and am expert at, deliberate thoughts fall aside and it is all just there. I think of the next word no more than the composer thinks of the next note.”

Wow. To be like Roger Ebert. It would be great to feel the deliberate thoughts fall aside. How many years of practice and perfecting that must take, to just feel it like a composer feels the music. I think when we think about the really great writers, like Roger Ebert, we forget that they became the masters with constant and deliberate practice. Of course, I do believe that some people are more inclined to writing than others, just like some people are more inclined to athleticism. (My husband seems inclined to both, but to acknowledge that might give him a big head.) Still, though, the practice is a must, as is the discipline to make that practice a regular part of our lives.