You've got to write it wrong.

I was just telling my boss that I don’t like to write and he said, “Nobody does.” The only thing interesting about this exchange is that he’s the Chief Creative Officer here and I’m one of his senior (make that old) writers.

I mention this because (watch out, whiny confession coming) I haven’t been living up to my end of the blogging contract.

As a pledge of faith, here’s the saying I developed to explain successful writing to my kids: You’ve got to write it wrong before you can write it right.

When people say, “I don’t understand how you can write,” it's usually a case of misunderstanding how writing really works for writers. If you see something that’s well written, it’s never — well, hardly ever — the first draft.

Another of my deeply wise sayings: writing is rewriting. You just put something on the page, dump it all out, then rewrite it. And rewrite it. And rewrite it. Until it’s presentable.

That’s why I don’t like to write. I like to think great thoughts. (The inside of my head is a wonder to behold.) But I don’t like to write them down. Not a good stance for a blogger. I’ll do better.