I Quit
Or a recent (edited) conversation with a writer friend who wants to quit writing.
Moi: I’ll be your cheerleader but I wont drag you kicking and screaming. There’s only so much I can do. I believe in you and you need to believe in you too
Friend: thank you Amie
Friend: I heart you
Moi: I know talent doesn’t count for near as much as it should but it does count. I can’t make you NOT give up……just like I can’t make anyone else give up. But I also believe that luck can be a self-fulfilling prophecy. You’ve got to make some of your own luck and believe in yourself even when the shit gets hard–especially when the shit gets hard. Now………keep your fucking head down and write. All the other bullSHIT will sort itself out
Friend: yeah
Moi: Write because you love it….not because of NY, not because you want an agent, not because of anything other than you LOVE creating things and you’re good at it. You ARE a born storyteller. Do what you love and the money will come.
Friend: I like that
Moi: Maybe not on your time schedule, maybe on the time schedule of the woman upstairs but it’ll come
Do I need to add anything to this? Can you? What would you say (or what have you said) to a friend who wanted to quit?
———-
I’ve written 3250 words yesterday and today…on the WRONG project. Um no comment please.
No Name
SCREWED
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled.
March 16th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
So true. I’ve been going through a funk myself lately. Not that I’m ready to quit or anything but I just don’t feel motivated. And I think what’s wrong with me? Then I go do something else rather than write. Sigh. I need Sven to slap me in the ass. HARD.
Great post Amie. And yes I’m doing lots better.
March 16th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
I considered quitting a couple of years back. Went so far as to try to figure out majors for college. *ggg* The trouble came when I thought about what I wanted to do instead. I couldn’t come up with ANYTHING. That’s when I realized I should probably stick with writing.
I figure the day I can come up with that answer is the day that I walk away.
March 16th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
the day I can come up with that answer is the day that I walk away.
Jordan GOOd point
March 16th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
I need Sven to slap me in the ass. HARD.
Consider yourself slapped on Sven’s behalf
March 16th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
I need a vacation…then I might be able to actually write!
March 16th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
I HAVE considered quitting, multiple times in fact. I still do from time to time. It is SO HARD getting rejection after rejection after rejection. Gah! Basically, you have to ask yourself… do you love writing? Do you love telling your stories? Does that mean more to you than NY? Does it mean more to you that MONEY? Because honestly, if you’re writing for the money, I wish you luck, but it’ll come through in your stories.
You have to write because you love the craft, you want to share the stories that are in your head with others, and you have to to get past money, rejections, and even what’s happening with others. Oh, I’m so there right now with all my gal pals selling to NY right and left and me being left behind. I don’t want to be left behind! My story is good, damn it! I just a chance… not even the whole foot, just a toe in the door to show what I can do… but it’s not happening for me either right now. But I have to believe that it will. I have to believe that someone out there will believe in my writing, but I can’t let it be my focus or else I’ll lose my heart… the love of writing.
March 16th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
or else I’ll lose my heart… the love of writing.
I guess some folks could say it’s easy for me to say that since I HAVE sold to Ny but selling doesn’t equal more sales. Only writing a good book can do that. As to losing your heart, I think it’s almost a part of the journey–reaching that point where you’re fed up and you’ve had enough. I’ve been there a couple times and I FINALLY feel like I’m reaching a point where I’ve got some balance in the writing–now balancing writing with the real world is a whole ‘nother matter
March 16th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Only writing a good book can do that.
And being a good writer isn’t all it’s about–sadly.
March 16th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
I’ve said various things.
I’ve said, “I won’t let you quit, dammit.”
I’ve said, “Finish the damn story, stop bullshitting, and keep putting it out there. It’s GOOD.”
And I’ve said, “If you CAN quit–quit.”
But I can’t honestly say I haven’t–and don’t–think of it.
March 16th, 2008 at 7:44 pm
I actually had a very good friend who felt the same way. I wanted to kick her in the ass because she had so much talent and no belief in herself. She didnt quit and now she is published and has made a good name for herself.
Until your friend believes in herself then there is nothing anybody can say.
I love to write, I love to write stories, my stories. They may not sell like most but damn it I stick true to me.. I lost the enjoyment in the writing and left for a long time. But I am back and I am going to write because I want to not because they want this or they want this. Or you dont write like we think you should. I say KISS MY ASS. I am going to write what I want.
March 17th, 2008 at 7:25 am
ha - I’m such a bitch, I guess. When a friend told me she wanted to quit, I said: So quit. And while you’re waiting in the unemployment line or putting in your 8 to 5 at a job you hate, that author you say you’re better than? She’s gonna be counting her money for the next book you say you can write better than she can. In fact, she’s COUNTING on you to quit - so are the other writers who want that slot you think you can fill. So…how badly do you want it?
Friend hated me for a bit. I could live with it.
March 17th, 2008 at 8:23 am
GO HOLLIE!!!!!!!!!
Sunny next time I need a bitch slappin’, I’m coming to you
March 18th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Well, I think Sunny and Raine said it best. This business is crazy and if you don’t have to deal with it then just quit.
March 18th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Amen!
I will add something Cindi Myers told me years ago - you’re going to get older whether you write or not, so you may as well be writing, right?
Maybe your buddy just needs more balance? God knows that’s easier said than done!
March 20th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
I did quit for a while — almost a year. However, it wasn’t about giving up on the writing or striving for publication. Instead, it was about saving my sanity. Life was not nice at the time and I couldn’t handle it all. Something had to go — and it wasnt’ going to be the teaching, for a couple of reasons, and it obviously wasn’t going to be the Monsters. Hence, it was the writing.
Although, I guess that’s more like a sabbatical, huh?