THE ART

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The artistry behind extraordinary writing, the kind that gives readers goosebumps while reading it and leaves them thinking about it hours, days, weeks or even years later, is just like other forms of art, such as painting, sculpture, music or dance.

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Some of us are born with the talent, while others must spend their entire lives striving to learn the craft with no guarantee that our work will ever be beyond mediocre.

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Usually, the most memorable artists are a combination of the two: some natural talent combined with years of dedication and hard work.  Consistency of purpose.

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THE SCIENCE

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Yet within every medium of art creation, there is also a science--a learned understanding of how to use the tools of the trade, whether that be their bodies to create dance, their mind and emotions to create performance or a command and understanding of their language to create good writing.

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And it is true what Stephen King said:  Great writers all have these two traits in common: they read and they write...a lot.

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But there are two other traits that set apart a mediocre writer from a superb one. First, it is experience.  One cannot write about what they have not actually lived.  The second is courage.  it's the courage to reveal the truth, whether that is in a well-planned, succinct memo or a creative outpouring of their life's anguish and beauty.  Consistency of purpose.