The history of Labor Day is no doubt interesting and well worth reading up on. Honestly, though, it’s not the first thing that comes to my mind on this particular day. I’ve always liked this day as a bridge between the ease of summer and a season of harder, more focused work. A day of reflection and renewal, and a day of re-commitment to my goals and values.
“Labor” is a word with many connotations.
On the downside, it carries a whiff of the unwanted, like “chore”, just harder. The proverbial salt mines come to mind. And, yes, writing can be a chore, when the words aren’t flowing, and your brain’s constipated for ideas. And all the ancillary tasks like querying, platform-building, marketing, copywriting, and a host of other things that are needed to get your stories out to readers can feel like hard labor at times.
But there’s a more positive side to it as well. Labor can carry its own rewards. The picture in my mind is that of the glow of satisfaction after a full day of hard and productive work. The kind where you actually have something to show for your effort at the end of the day. Needless to say that writing can be one of the most rewarding things you can do.
Laborers are folks who work with their hands. They work in the trades. The crafts. And while writing, on the surface seems far removed from that, it’s really not. Whether it’s story structure or world-building or grammar or vocabulary – there’s a lot of craft involved in writing. It’s not all creativity and inspiration. There’s a non-negligible sweat element to it. A certain doggedness as well. You have to show up, day after day, whether you feel like it or not, whether inspiration and motivation are present or not, whether you get recognition or not. Labor is practice, and it’s also grit.
In my romp through the meanings of “labor”, I feel obligated to mention the much-beloved-by-many and much-hated-by-me analogy of “birthing” a book. If I never hear the words “book” and “baby” in the same sentence again, it’ll be too early. What I can get behind, though, is the notion of “labor of love”. The notion that you’ll toil relentlessly for something that’s so meaningful to you that you’re willing to go through a lot of trouble to make it happen.
So let’s celebrate this Labor Day as a reminder to double down, to improve our craft, and to not let resistance carry the day.