Perseverance

There must be something in the air this month. Kris Rusch blogged about it. Anton Strout talked about it with Sherrilyn Kenyon on his The Once & Future Podcast. And I've talked about it with other writer friends.

How do you keep going when you've hit a bad spot or a low in your writing career?

I'm not the only one who has had health issues this year. Some folks have had financial problems. Others have had family troubles. It's hard to concentrate on writing when your life is going to hell in a handbasket.

But to remain a writer or be a writer, you have to hang in there. You have to keep going. You have to persevere.

That's not to say you can't take a break. It's not any different than the yearlong leave I had to take from law school when DH was diagnosed with cancer. But you have to keep your eye on the prize. I knew I was going back to school as soon as DH was back to work, despite what a couple of my professors thought. You have to believe in yourself. In your skills. In your vision for your art.

It's real easy to get caught in the trap of comparing where you are and where other writers are. But as both Kris and Sherrilyn have pointed out, they've had their ups and downs. They've even had major downs after they both became bestsellers.

However, in any business, hell, even in life, there are cycles. No low is permanent. Neither is any high. But so many writers hit a low that is so bad, they think it will never end. They let the down kill their creative spark, and they quit writing. Or painting. Or playing their guitar.

That's where your determination has to kick in. You don't know how long a downturn will be.  You don't know when it will turn around. If you have the power to know this, please contact me. I'll front the money for a ticket and split the next Mega Millions jackpot with you.

In the meantime, I'll persevere and keep plugging away at my writing. I need to write fifty more books to catch up with Sherrilyn.