Don't Quit Too Soon

Here comes a Captain Obvious statement... 

Writing is tough.

Whaaaaaaattttttt????? Really?

No seriously, writing is tough. It is even harder if you are just starting out. Like anything we do, it takes time to figure out our craft. We go to school. We go and get graduate degrees. We spend hours and years in internships and apprenticeships just to figure things out. Even then, it still takes time to really get to the point that our craft becomes natural.

As a teacher, I remember my first year. I knew it all. I rocked all of my education classes. Heck, I had been teaching workshops and training sessions through the Scouting program (to adults BTW) since I was 11 years old. I knew I could handle anything.

Do you really think that first year went well? Sure, there were a lot of great things that happened, but it still took time. I watch other new teachers just not understanding how I can somehow pull a new lesson plan with curriculum I have never seen out of thin air while they take weeks to figure it out. It is because I took the time.

Too many writers these days are really struggling to get their careers launched. They wrote an amazing story according to their critique group!

I mean, look at these people. They love what each other has written (as they sit there at their local coffee shop and spend a lot more time chatting about life). But the reality is that those stories, while loved by friends and family, may not be quite up to snuff. As I have said earlier this week, it may not be something the market wants. It may be something ONLY your friends and family want to read. It may simply not be well written.

Still, you have submitted that project and you keep getting rejections. You could just say screw it and do it on your own. Besides, those editors and agents really don't know good writing if it landed on their lap. 

But even that approach is not getting you the results you want.

SO YOU QUIT!

You gave up what you loved because it didn't get you what you wanted the first time out. This is not something we only see in writing. Students graduating with a BA or an MA often are frustrated and give up their career plans because they were not making the "big bucks" with that first job. They may even say they'll go get another degree because that one will pay later.

And yet it doesn't.

All of those big name authors you see out there were, at one point in their careers, at the exact same place as you are. They struggled. They got rejection letters. They were ready to quit. But the difference between them and you is that they stuck with it.

They knew it would take some time to get things going. 

So don't quit. 2025 is a year for you to get off your butt. Get back to your writing. And remember, your first book may not be done this year. So what. Keep working!!!!!