Wednesday, April 20, 2011

A to Z Challenge Day 17: Quitting isn't an option

I seem to know a lot of quitters.  Things get a bit hard, and rather than give it any effort or stick with it, they take the easy route and quit.  Most people quit something at some point in their lives, but it's the chronic quitters that I have no patience with.  The ones who let the least little thing send them into a tizzy and they throw up their hands and that's it.  No thought to the consequences - and it's often themselves that they're really hurting. 

There have been times in the last few months that I've wanted to quit writing articles.  The money can be really bad, you can spend ages on an article that gets little to no attention, you have to spend a lot of time networking and getting your work out there for people to see.  I've known a lot of people who start, realize how hard it is or that you're not going to start making money overnight, and quit.  For me, quitting isn't an option.  I'm a writer - it's more than what I do, it's who I am.  It's in me, the words don't only run through my mind, they run through my veins.  If I wasn't a writer, I don't know what I'd do, or who I'd be.  Writing articles isn't what I want to do in the long-run - I want to write novels professionally, and maybe other forms of fiction, since fiction is my first love, but for now, writing articles is a foot in the door.  I'm getting my name and face out there, letting people know that I have a voice, and meeting a ton of great, talented, supportive people in the process.  So quitting isn't an option.




I think one of the best pieces of advice a writer can get is don't quit.  No matter how hard it is, no matter how long you may suffer from writer's block, no matter how little time you have to write, or how many rejections you get, or how many critics you have, if it's something you love, if it's something you truly want to do, don't quit.  Don't give up on yourself, don't stop believing that it'll happen someday, don't deprive the world of your voice, your words, your story.  Don't let anybody tell you that you can't do it - and believe me, there will be plenty of naysayers along the way - do it in spite of them, or maybe even because of them.  Turn their negativity around and show them that you can do anything you put your mind to and that dreams really can come true.


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I don't have a Q band or song today (not that I couldn't think of one, I just decided against it), so I've opted for a song that I always find inspirational - one of my favorites by my favorite band, U2.


I'm auto-posting this entry on Tuesday night for Wednesday morning because by the time it posts at 10am, I'll be out with my sister-in-law preparing for my mum's birthday on Thursday.  I'm not 100% sure what we're doing yet - we had planned to fix up the balcony and create a little garden out there (something we've been talking about for about 15 years - procrastination at its finest, ladies and gentlemen) but it's been so cold and rainy that we haven't gotten around to it.  We might have to push that back a couple weeks till Mother's Day and figure something else out in the meantime.  

Have a great Wednesday, everyone!

Have there been times when you've wanted to quit something really important?  What have you done to get over that feeling and move past it?  Have you ever quit something and then regretted it?  I love hearing from you guys, so please leave comments and I'll be sure to visit you and comment in return!

5 comments:

  1. Very inspirational, thanks. And I love that U2 song. That was just what I needed today.

    I’m A-Z Blogging on Langley Writes about Writing and Langley’s Rich and Random Life

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  2. Thank you for stressing that quitting is not an option for a writer.
    I don't recall quitting something and then regretting my actions. I have often held on long past the time I should have quit something, however!

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  3. I think I've been convinced also that quitting isn't an option. Quitting certainly won't shut the voices in my head. =D

    Nice post.

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  4. There are so many people who treat quitting like it's a small thing. It isn't. It's a change of aim. Sometimes a change in identity.

    Huge. Issue.

    So I've quit some things, but I've always spent long and hard hours on working out if quitting is the right choice. By the time I quit, I don't regret it.

    :-)

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  5. thanks for inspire me do some thing important that my life needed

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~Marie

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