“A writer is somebody for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people,” goes a quote attributed to Thomas Mann.

The difficulty is, precisely, why you’d want to write. There’s something you need to make sense of, that you can’t avoid, and you need somewhere to put everything you think and feel. So you write.

Perhaps a person who writes—a writer—experiences a great discomfort in not trying to make sense of things. Writing merely offers a bit of relief to help get through the day.

The most beautiful lotus flower can only grow in soil and mud.