Writing Never Gets Easy?

Louise Glück related in her Nobel Prize-winning Proofs & Theories: Essays on Poetry (1994) that it's a fantasy to believe that writing gets easier and that a writer is always inspired. Glück wrote:

It never gets easier to write. The fantasy exists that once certain hurdles have been gotten through, this art turns much simpler, that inspiration never falters, and public opinion is always affirmative, and there’s no struggle, there’s no torment, there’s no sense that the thing you’ve embarked on is a catastrophe.

However, I believe that Glück meant to advise that writing never gets easy, because like anything that you practice regularly, it will (almost) always get easier, but not necessarily easy. For example, the more you write (about a topic of passion), your stamina may naturally increase.

In the film The Tenants (2005), Willie Spearmint, who was writing his first book, shared that, except for Sundays, he wrote for four solid hours per day. However, Harry Lesser, who was writing his third book, wrote for, at least, six hours per day.

Willie Spearmint, "I work from, like, 8 to 12. Four solid hours. And then I'm out. Man, I tell you, this writing stuff is no joke. How long you go for?"

Harry Lesser, "About six hours a day. Sometimes more."

Thus, one shouldn't be surprised that after writing consistently, that it becomes easier, but it may never become easy, because like Willie said, "[T]his writing stuff is no joke."

Literary Talent Isn’t Rare?

Kevin Barry, the Irish novelist, opined in The Paris Review piece "Jumping Off a Cliff: An Interview with Kevin Barry" (November 12, 2013) that "literary talent isn’t rare", because a lot of people have the potential to be good writers; however, most people don't have the discipline to write "every single fucking day", and most people don't make writing a priority. Consequently, most people never develop their literary talent. Kevin Barry:

"The funny thing about it all is that literary talent isn’t rare. Lots of people can write good stories with good characters and great sentences. What’s rare is the stubborn, pragmatic thing that tells you “I’ve got to do this every single fucking day, even when I don’t want to do it, when I’d rather pluck my eyes out and feed them to the birds.” That discipline combined with talent is very rare. I’d be willing to bet that some of the most brilliant writers who ever lived have never been published, because they weren’t prepared to do the work. You have to make sacrifices and be utterly selfish. Everything else and everyone else is secondary to your writing."

Barry's stance reminds me of Angela Duckworth's Grit, where she wrote that grit can be a better indicator of success than "talent" or IQ scores, because talent that's multiplied by effort equals skill, which, when multiplied by effort, God willing, equals achievement. 

Lastly, I would add that a key to having the discipline to write every single day, is to write about a topic of passion, which you passionately want to share. 

Passion Aids the Arduous Nature of Writing

In the film The Tenants (2005), which is based on Bernard Malamud's novel of the same title, Willie confessed to Lesser, "Man, I tell you, this writing stuff is no joke." And in terms of the life of a writer, Willie said, "Baby, it's a long, hard, lonely life."

John Logan, the prolific screenwriter, agreed with Willie. In the Los Angeles Times piece "Duos of ‘Genius’: A. Scott Berg and John Logan [...]" (June 3, 2016), Logan related that making art (e.g., writing) is "arduous" (i.e., writing requires strenuous effort and it can be difficult and tiring). Logan said,

You know what — it is really arduous to make art. It is work. It doesn’t magically happen. Those writers who say, oh you know I wait and inspiration strikes, and magically a perfect sonnet will come. I’m like, you’re lying. That’s not how Wordsworth wrote, that’s not how Keats wrote, that’s not how anyone worked.

And I would add that writing about a topic that you're passionate about is a good way to overcome the arduous nature of writing and stay driven and stimulated.