The Discourse blew up again over the weekend, or maybe last week, time is fuzzy because I was in California<\/a> and then my parents were in Chicago. This time poor Kevin Maloney<\/a>, a writer I was unfamiliar with before this (I\u2019m so sorry Kevin, if it helps, I\u2019m on your side), was Twitter\u2019s Main Character, for saying that writers need to work on their writing sometimes. <\/p> I\u2019d post the tweets, but certain billionaires are way smarter than me and know how the world works more than me, so we can\u2019t link tweets on Substack anymore. I am a Real JournalistTM, tho, so I\u2019ll transcribe: <\/p> The most important lesson I ever learned as a writer: When I was 28 I was at a bar on a Friday night. My friends and I were dancing and getting wasted and having an amazing night, when I looked around and noticed that my buddy Clark<\/a> was missing. I asked my buddy Jeremy, \u201cHey where\u2019s Clark?\u201d Jeremy said, \u201cIn his studio, painting.\u201d I said, \u201cOn a Friday night at midnight?\u201d Jeremy said, \u201cYeah. I mean\u2026 that\u2019s why he\u2019s so good.\u201d <\/p> I was trying to be a writer at the time but only did it here and there in little spurts. A few years later, I was still thinking about Clark in his studio on a Friday night at midnight. I decided to start treating writing the way Clark treated his art. The way professional athletes treat their workouts, waking up at 6am and putting in the time, even when they don\u2019t want to. That\u2019s when I experienced a huge leap forward in the quality of my writing. I didn\u2019t wait for inspiration. I just wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote. I treated it like my real job. Everything else was a distraction.<\/p> I just think some writers treat writing and art as something precious. I recommend watching sports documentaries and cooking documentaries. Learn about the habits of people who are amazing at what they do. It usually isn\u2019t genius or freakish ability. It\u2019s usually just profound desire and a willingness to put in the work. <\/p><\/blockquote>