Dear Discouraged Writer

Dear Discouraged Writer,

I understand you're pretty low. You're not sure if you have the time, the will, the talent. You're not sure, period. You've been writing for what feels like years-- you should be so much more accomplished than this! You don't understand why some seem to fly through the process you're absolutely laboring through. And worst of all, you're beginning to doubt why you decided to try this at all.

I feel your pain. I'm in a pretty low place, myself. Not sure if I "have what it takes." Not sure if I ever will, or if I've been wasting my time trying to "get there." I've never doubted that I was meant to tell stories, but I've doubted that I have the words, the skills, or the energy to "do it right." That is, get published.

You probably understand this. That's why I want to share something with you. But first, I want to talk about dreams.

Dreams.

We all have them, whether we're in touch with them or not. Sometimes it takes a specific incident -- a person, a situation, a place -- to cast a light on those dreams. Then suddenly you know what you want, even if it feels a million miles away. You'd do anything to be there, have that, experience that.

It's a dream.

If you're like me, then your dream is to be a published author. You're not there yet, but you're trying. Tirelessly, it seems. You dedicate more hours than most working people and still-- no fruit for your labors! But it's your dream. You want to be there. You want to achieve your personal goals, and you want it so badly you're willing to do whatever the internet tells you to to get there. (And there's a bonus. You also really love what you do, so it seems like it must be a win-win situation, right? An easy path to one of your biggest goals?)

Right?

Wrong.

The path hasn't been easy. It isn't easy. It never will be easy. (Well, unless you're one of those lucky few who get an agent on their first try.) Just like life itself, the things we want most in life, we've got to work for. And even when things seem dim (like they do for you now), and all hope is almost lost, you've still got to try.

Because you'll get there yet.

This, I firmly believe. And with that being said, I'd like to share with you a few of my "wall quotes."As I've shared before, I'm in the process of correcting my Scoliosis through a strict, 3-hour daily spine regimen. During the first 90 days of this routine, I had a slip of paper for each day with a checklist of all the exercises and things that needed to be done -- and a quote. When the day was over, I'd tape each paper to the wall.

Today (over 400 days later in the regimen, by the way) there's still a section of wall in my attic covered in 90 slips of paper bearing inspiring quotes. Sometimes I still go up there and just read them. Because it helps to hear these things. It motivates me.

I hope it motivates you.

"The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking places."

 ~Unknown

"Believe that you can and you're halfway there."

 ~Theodore Roosevelt

"Don't be discouraged; it's often the last key in the bunch that opens the lock."

 ~Unknown

"If you are going through hell, keep going." 

~Winston Churchill

"Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did."

 ~Newt Gringritch 

"In order to get from what was to what will be, you must go through what is."

 ~Anonymous

"Success is sweet, and sweeter if long delayed and gotten through many struggles and defeats."

 ~Amos Bronson Alcott

"If there is no struggle there is no progress."

 ~Frederick Douglass

"How long should you try? Until."

 ~Jim Rohn

"Hold on, hold fast, hold out. Patience is genius."

 ~Georges-Louis Leclere

"I may not be there, but I'm closer than I was yesterday." 

~Unknown

"Victory is always possible for the person who refuses to stop fighting."

 ~Napoleon Hill

"It's always too soon to quit!"

 ~Norman Vincent Peale

"Man is not made for defeat."

 Ernist Hemingway

"Stubbornly persist, and you will find that the limits of your stubbornness go well beyond the stubbornness of your limits."

 ~Robert Brault

"Press on! A better fate awaits thee."

 ~Victor Hugo

Love,

Me