Keep on writing: Persistence in the face of adversity

By Dennis Mellersh

In the journey of learning how to write a book, discouragement and thoughts of failure can creep in periodically and interfere with our writing plan and with our creativity.

For instance:

One day you may be able to produce 1,000 words for your book with apparent ease, and then the next day, you have difficulty creating even one sentence you are happy with;

Or, the original plot you envisaged for your book now seems overly contrived and not believable;

The actual writing, once started, is taking on a life of its own, and is not following your carefully planned outline;

Your energy and the desire to write was in overdrive yesterday with the words flowing effortlessly, but today your confidence and “creativity” seems low and nothing you write seems to work.

These are just a few examples of the difficulties writers’ face that can lead to thoughts of failure.

It’s important to realize, however, that on the road to successfully finishing the writing of your book, speed bumps and obstacles are normal, and should not be taken as signs of personal failure.
Writing is hard and does not come easily to most of us.

And most important, in the words of Ray Bradbury, “You only fail if you stop writing.”