“Don’t quit. It’s very easy to quit during the first ten years.” – Andre Dubus
10 thoughts on “Quotable”
I don’t quit but I confess in this life it’s very easy to delay due to competing life priorities. Writing itself is a learning journey–if writing were easy I probably wouldn’t pursue it. But that’s just one creative pursuit. I want to develop my skills at drawing (I have this obsession about learning how to draw moose. Why? I don’t know. They’re just so cute) and painting, do leatherwork, etc.
But always, writing is my first priority when it comes to creativity. And I’ve got a lot of projects I want to write…
I think it’s also easy to think about quitting after a setback—say your first novel didn’t sell well, your publisher dropped you, etc etc.
Focus on your love for the writing itself and write. If you need a suitable period to mourn—say a day or a week, that’s fine, but your writing practice is always there for you, ready and waiting.
I see writing as I see visual art. Because I am a visual artist and an author I am very aware of building a body of work, of building a portfolio. If you have one photo, you don’t have a body of work. You have a beginning. I view writing the same way. I am always building my body of work. Viewed that way I bypass the quitting. I spent years building up enough work to begin submissions. Then in about a year and half it was all published and I was back to building. There is a rhythm to creative process from concept to publication. I think people get lost in that and give up.
I keep telling myself that every time I want to give up on the novel I’ve been working on for 17+ years. I would have abandoned it a long time ago except that it’s stayed with me all this time and I still love the characters and the story. It’s a good thing I don’t have to do this for a living. Lol.
I just remembered this quote from “A League of Their Own”– “It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great.”
I don’t quit, but as BK Jackson stated, life just seems to “get in the way.” And, when life does “gets in the way” I find that I feel guilty for not putting my writing first. Yet, after reading this quotable, I am going to take time to do what I want to do …. WRITE! And, with the outlines that I have created over the last few weeks, I am going to make my dream come true . . . To publish my first thriller this year!
I don’t quit but I confess in this life it’s very easy to delay due to competing life priorities. Writing itself is a learning journey–if writing were easy I probably wouldn’t pursue it. But that’s just one creative pursuit. I want to develop my skills at drawing (I have this obsession about learning how to draw moose. Why? I don’t know. They’re just so cute) and painting, do leatherwork, etc.
But always, writing is my first priority when it comes to creativity. And I’ve got a lot of projects I want to write…
I think it’s also easy to think about quitting after a setback—say your first novel didn’t sell well, your publisher dropped you, etc etc.
Focus on your love for the writing itself and write. If you need a suitable period to mourn—say a day or a week, that’s fine, but your writing practice is always there for you, ready and waiting.
That made me laugh. First novel? How about my 8th.
Three different novels with 2 different publishers.
I’ve come to the conclusion that, for me, the publishing/marketing part of authoring is the part I hate.
But why should that make me put my keyboard away? Just because I write a story/novel doesn’t mean I have to publish it.
So…write the dang story, Deb, even if I’m the only one who reads it. And pour my heart into it, make it the best it can be…just in case.
🤓
I see writing as I see visual art. Because I am a visual artist and an author I am very aware of building a body of work, of building a portfolio. If you have one photo, you don’t have a body of work. You have a beginning. I view writing the same way. I am always building my body of work. Viewed that way I bypass the quitting. I spent years building up enough work to begin submissions. Then in about a year and half it was all published and I was back to building. There is a rhythm to creative process from concept to publication. I think people get lost in that and give up.
I keep telling myself that every time I want to give up on the novel I’ve been working on for 17+ years. I would have abandoned it a long time ago except that it’s stayed with me all this time and I still love the characters and the story. It’s a good thing I don’t have to do this for a living. Lol.
I just remembered this quote from “A League of Their Own”– “It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great.”
I’ve seen too many good writers quit after a set-back, and it’s a real loss to those of us who enjoyed their books.
I don’t quit, but as BK Jackson stated, life just seems to “get in the way.” And, when life does “gets in the way” I find that I feel guilty for not putting my writing first. Yet, after reading this quotable, I am going to take time to do what I want to do …. WRITE! And, with the outlines that I have created over the last few weeks, I am going to make my dream come true . . . To publish my first thriller this year!