I've had several conversations, over twitter, this blog and face-to-face (remember when we did everything in person? ;-) about how frustrating and hard writing can be. How the urge to just give it up grows stronger and stronger every day that you don't get a sale. Or maybe it's sitting down to face a rewrite you really don't want to do but you know you must. Arrrggghhh, why can't it just flow like water from my imagination! Why aren't people buying my book?
The biggest obstacle you must get past is the urge to quit. The wall. The dark pit of 'one more edit'. The fifth rewrite of that stupid scene that just won't gel.
You cannot stop. You cannot quit. The wall can be climbed, the pit hurdled. You know you can, because you've done it before. A couple of times or a thousand times; it doesn't matter. You've done it before and your story is much better because of your effort.
Everyone has ideas on how to push past writers' block or the urge to give up. Sure, go ahead and search for some ideas online. Talk to authors and writing groups. Lots of good ideas out there.
The simplest one is: You Cannot Quit.
It's like these concepts:
You cannot stop breathing. (Please don't try this at home ;-)
You cannot go 100 hours without sleep.
You cannot jump 100 feet into the air.
You cannot grow wings and fly. (Except in dreams, of course.)
You cannot ...well, you get the idea. There are things that you truly cannot do. But giving up on your story is not one of those things.
The personal reward for finishing a good story is worth it. You know it is. You are rewarded for a story well done. I'm rewarded if I get to read your story. The world is rewarded because an author has made his imagination available to us all.
Don't quit.
