In Artists & Illustrators magazine, I read the following anecdote from painter Ken Howard about a point early in his career when he was painting his local rail sidings and a passing railway worker stopped to look:
“This old boy came across and he watched me paint for 10 minutes and he said, ‘You know, sonny, I’ve walked across this railway yard for the last 30 years and this morning for the first time I can see it’s beautiful.’ That really got at me. I thought, ‘That’s what painting is about!’ It’s about revelation, about revealing the world to people in your terms.”
I think writing is about the same thing. What are you revealing?
(I reveal a lot of useful tips for writing your fiction or non-fiction book in "Your Writing Coach," published by Nicholas Brealey and available from all good book stores and a few bad ones.)
