Something out of Nothing

I have several family members that crochet. Some knit and crochet, and their skill never ceases to amaze me. I have watched in awe while they have taken what really just amounted to a single long thread and created scarves, hats, mittens, sweaters, and even coats! I have mentioned many times that what they do often seems magical to me. Using their skill and know-how, it almost seems that they create something out of nothing.
  As writers, do we do any less? We use our skills and know-how to face down a blank page and fill it with words meant to convey feelings, images, and ideas. One page often becomes more, with the words coalescing into poems, short stories, articles, books, etc. It can seem magical.
  But, the magic is only an illusion of course, because as the person who is crocheting a blanket or capelet knows, just like the person hard at work on a poem, story or article, it's work! The creative process, the melding together of ideas, dreams, and the physical tools needed to bring those dreams, etc. to fruition very often involves copious amounts of the proverbial blood, sweat, and tears.
  It is the illusion of creating something out of nothing that makes writing such a controversial career choice sometimes, as folks looking in from the outside may not understand the process.
  I guess what I'm trying to say is that regardless of what it may look like, writing is hard work! We so often do create magic when we write, building worlds and touching hearts with words painstakingly put together with skill and even love. In effect, making something out of nothing. A poem, a story, a novel, an essay, onto blank sheets of paper as empty and formless as a deep, dense fog. We as writers work up the nerve to reach into the unknown depths in order to put our thoughts and ideas down where they are then open to critique and vulnerable to opinion.
  Because thats what we do. We make something out of nothing.