Writing

"He said, 'I like this song you wrote called Hallelujah. How long did that take you to write?' And I said, 'Oh, the best part of two years.' He said, 'Two years?' Kinda shocked. And then we started talking about a song of his called I And I from Infidels. I said, 'How long did you take to write that.' He said, 'Ohh, 15 minutes.' I almost fell off my chair. Bob just laughed."
Leonard Cohen talks to Bob Dylan as remembered by Cohen.

It seems that everyone struggles with writing (except maybe Bob Dylan when he's having a good day). Several people have talked to me recently about how they want to improve their writing. There's no magic trick. You work at it. You write.

Very, very, few people are gifted natural writers. Most of us labor through draft after draft. You can be a good scientist without being a naturally good writer but that means you need to work at your writing. Take it through draft after draft. You can't just throw up your hand and say you aren't a good writer.

If Leonard Cohen can labor for two years on one song then we can all go through one more draft.