Writing and Programming, Crafts Worth Honing

I found it hard to get into at first and I think that it's mostly the way you go about it. Write about subjects you love, try different ways of writing (e.g. I just started writing stories longform with pad and paper).

Most of all, I think you should write for yourself, not anyone else's approval/recognition. If you can see at least small improvements in your writing over time, then you have success instead of futility. There's a great quote from Kurt Vonnegut about this:

"Find a subject you care about and which you in your heart feel others should care about. It is this genuine caring, and not your games with language, which will be the most compelling and seductive element in your style.

I am not urging you to write a novel, by the way — although I would not be sorry if you wrote one, provided you genuinely cared about something. A petition to the mayor about a pothole in front of your house or a love letter to the girl next door will do."

Does it feel futile because you get distracted or because you don't feel like you have anything to say?

The cure for the first ailment is discipline, or perhaps writin in a distraction free editor. The cure for the second is living.