In J.R.R. Tolkien‘s epic Lord of the Rings trilogy, we meet the creature Gollum, who is obsessed with the magical One Ring. Back when he a Hobbit known as Sméagol, he had taken it from his cousin, who found the ring in a riverbed after being dragged into the water by a large fish. For five hundred years, Sméagol allowed the ring to poison his mind and transform him into the unrecognizable Gollum, who calls the ring “my precious.” By the end of the trilogy, Gollum loses his life because he is obsessed with his precious ring.

There may be a tiny bit of resemblance between Gollum’s love for the ring and our love for our own words.

When we are in love with our writing, it’s hard to edit. It’s hard to take constructive criticism. It’s hard to be objective because we are in love with our words.

When our words emerge on the screen or from the pen, they are not diamonds. Instead, they are more like coal. Coal is dirty and messy but it is made from carbon, the same element diamonds are made of. With enough time and pressure, carbon turns to diamonds.

The writing process is like carbon that is being turned into another substance. Most of what you produce will be coal, but a portion of it will be diamonds. The trouble is that you don’t always know which is which in the moment. You just have to keep producing.

Then as you sift through your words by editing and rewriting, you will discover the diamonds. Keep mining for those diamonds.