I’m sitting here right now with the morning’s second cup of tea. The first one was chamomile from San Francisco’s Chinatown; this one is peach-black currant from Paris. I have a cupboard overflowing with teas from around the world, so I have many options. Right now temps are in the upper 50s—a bit chilly for my part of California—and it’s pouring rain. But when the weather turns warmer, I’ll switch to different beverages. I’ll take my tea iced, and I’ll also fortify myself with espresso and diet cola.

Writers have a reputation as drinkers (thanks, Hemingway). But most of the authors I know depend much more heavily on caffeinated beverages than on alcohol. Oh sure, I enjoy a margarita or Moscow mule now and then, but booze doesn’t help much with my writing. Caffeine, however, is essential. It’s a tool of the trade.

And that brings me to this month’s theme: the paradox of writing.

On the one hand, being an author is the simplest of professions. In fact, I’d bet storytelling is the oldest profession, predating prostitution and lawyers by many centuries. Even given millennia of advances in technology, writing today requires only a few basic things. Something to write on (computer, paper, notebooks, scraps of paper, prison walls). Something to write with (keyboard, pen, pencil, chalk, blood of the innocents). Time to write. And caffeine, of course.

Sure, the job gets easier when we have the Internet and other research sources, and we can take workshops to improve our craft. Personally, I find it easiest to write with the house empty except for me and the cat. But I don’t need Google or classes or solitude; I can write a novel without any of those things (although research and fact-checking are important).

I should also mention that good writing also requires a team of quick-witted editors. A final book may also need an artist to create a beautiful cover and someone to design the interior. And if you want the book to sell, you’ll need some kind of marketing plan.

But those are the frosting on the cake. The cake itself has just four basic ingredients: something to write on, something to write with, time, and caffeine.

If writing is so simple, why isn’t everyone doing it?

Ah, the paradox. Because while writing takes little in the way of supplies, it’s also a complicated thing to achieve.

You may have some lovely concepts in your head. Interesting characters. Fascinating settings. Wonderful plots. Earthshaking ideas. You likely have entire universes tucked away in your skull. And somehow you have to share those universes with your readers, and you only get to use those four basic tools. Not only that, but you also have to make the results beautiful. You have to make those universes as real—as important—to readers as they are to you. It’s like trying to build the Taj Mahal using nothing but a butter knife and a teaspoon.

There are few things I love more than reading really good writing. As an author I especially treasure this activity. I know that all those unfussy little marks on the page or on my Kindle screen got there through blood, sweat, tears, and maybe a little magic. The paradox of writing: isn’t it an amazing thing?

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Kim Fielding is the bestselling author of numerous m/m romance novels, novellas, and short stories. Like Kim herself, her work is eclectic, spanning genres such as contemporary, fantasy, paranormal, and historical. Her stories are set in alternate worlds, in 15th century Bosnia, in modern-day Oregon. Her heroes are hipster architect werewolves, housekeepers, maimed giants, and conflicted graduate students. They’re usually flawed, they often encounter terrible obstacles, but they always find love.

After having migrated back and forth across the western two-thirds of the United States, Kim calls the boring part of California home. She lives there with her husband, her two daughters, and her day job as a university professor, but escapes as often as possible via car, train, plane, or boat. This may explain why her characters often seem to be in transit as well. She dreams of traveling and writing full-time.

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A complete list of Kim’s books: http://www.kfieldingwrites.com/kim-fieldings-books/