I'm Quitting Writing...

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scheherazade

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...Not really, but sometimes when I'm feeling down on myself I convince myself I'm going to quit writing. It's too hard to keep chugging away at my novel. No one's going to read it anyway. I'm a terrible writer. I'm wasting my time when I could be focusing on developing my social life or building my career or starting a family or whatever.

I know that this is irrational, but the idea comes to mind a lot when I'm feeling bad. Does anyone else ever feel this urge to quit? What do you do to deal with it? Do you try to rationalize yourself out of it? Or do you just give in for a short time, stop writing and let yourself rejuvenate, until you can't not write? Or...some other strategy?
 
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Short answer? No, never. I've never considered quitting, not for a moment.

Suppose I should quit this thread pronto, then. :D
 

Cybernaught

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I feel like that every once in a while, scheherazade. The only thing that keeps me going is my love for storytelling and the fact that life would be meaningless to me without writing. Hang in there. :Hug2:
 

icerose

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This is what I love to do, if it never goes anywhere, so what? It's what I want to do, no waste in that.
 

Clair Dickson

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Sometimes I feel this way-- up to the quitting part. I know me well enough to know I'll never not write. I have too many stories, characters, and ideas to stop. My head would explode. But sometimes it's hard to keep going when it feels like I'm just writing junk and no one would publish me anyway and so on. But I can't quit.
 

chevbrock

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I'm a crappy painter. I can't even draw, so I have to trace other people's artwork and colour that in. But I still do it, even if it isn't very good. Because I enjoy it. I keep it in a book and no one has to be exposed to the horror of it.

I look at writing the same way. It's probably shit - but I like it. :)
 

LisaHy

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I used to feel like this, but I think I'm at a point where I'm very comfortable with my writing and don't consciously think I'll never write again.

But, having said that, after I've finished a big project, like a novel (which I've done just recently), I occasionally hit a low where I have absolutely no inspiration to write. I just can't get my brain into gear. I have stories I'm dying to tell but something blocks me from starting them. If I force myself, what comes out is complete and utter crap. I showed two lines of something I'd forced to a friend and he was horrified. That's when I get a feeling like I'll never be able to write again, but not because I want to quit.

Thankfully, last night, while reading real life ghost stories, I found the inspiration to start a short story. Consequently, I scared the begeebers out of myself and couldn't sleep for hours... But to be writing again, I'm willing to put up with a case of the scaredy cats.

Best of luck with getting over this funk. You'll make it. :Thumbs:

Cheers, Lisa.
 

thethinker42

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Never. I've had times when I thought I sucked, when I thought "I'll never make anything of myself doing this", etc, but quitting has never been an option. Even if the entire publishing industry disappeared and all I could do was write on a piece of tree bark with blood from my own finger for my own amusement...I'd still write. Those voices in my head would drive me batty if I didn't write down what they were saying.
 

KTC

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I write because I want to write. I don't have issues with that desire.
 

tehuti88

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I feel like quitting writing all the time (since I write to connect to people, and that isn't working), but I honestly have NOTHING else to do with my time or life. It's not like I have friends or a job or family or social obligations to attend to. And I adore my characters and storylines. They're the only thing I have to fill up my time.

So even though it brings me so much frustration and heartache, I don't think I'd ever quit writing. *shrug*
 

Maryn

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I quit a couple of years ago. I lack the confidence in my own work to market it; it's a huge act of courage for me to submit anywhere.

But when I told our daughter I was quitting, she said something that proves how smart she is. "Well, you can quit submitting if you want, but why quit writing when you love it? Isn't that a perfectly good reason to do it?"

Maryn, who's got herself one smart kid (well, two, actually)
 

Norman D Gutter

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Yes, I frequently have the desire to quit writing. I'm struggling with that right now.

On this bout of the feeling, I decided my specific problem is not with writing but with publishing. Writing is fun; seeking publication is a drag. So I decided to quit seeking publication, but keep writing, albeit at a slower pace. It may be a year or two before I will worry about getting anything published, but I will still write during that time.

I also took time to lay all new writing aside and get caught up on household chores, financial management, budgeting, and typing old writing still in steno books. I'm writing almost nothing new right now, and probably won't write much new till after the first of the year. By that time I will have caught up on typing; I will have all my drafts of various things properly filed; the house will be in good shape and my financial house will be in order. Then, I will have time to write new material, and will hopefully feel free of mental encumberances to do so.

One thing I am doing for new writing during this time is to capture new ideas. Several items for new books, poems, articles have come to mind. If they dwell there awhile, I make sure I capture them on paper with enough description so that they would still make sense in a couple of years and stick them in my Ideas notebook, allowing them to await their turn in the gray cells whenever that should occur.
 

Karen Duvall

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...Not really, but sometimes when I'm feeling down on myself I convince myself I'm going to quit writing. It's too hard to keep chugging away at my novel. No one's going to read it anyway. I'm a terrible writer. I'm wasting my time when I could be focusing on developing my social life or building my career or starting a family or whatever.

I know that this is irrational, but the idea comes to mind a lot when I'm feeling bad. Does anyone else ever feel this urge to quit? What do you do to deal with it? Do you try to rationalize yourself out of it? Or do you just give in for a short time, stop writing and let yourself rejuvenate, until you can't not write? Or...some other strategy?

Absolutely! And it's perfectly normal to feel that way. Writing is an emotional endeavor, so rejection and criticism have a way of beating us down and our survival instinct kicks in. You start thinking that once you stop beating your head against the wall, it won't hurt anymore. :D

But the feeling passes. Take a break. Switch genres. Enter contests. Do a variety of other things writers do to feed their writing obsession.

I've taken numerous breaks over the years, and always came back at it with a fresh perspective, re-energized, and the quality of my writing just keeps getting better.

Hang in there! Things will turn around. Just you wait and see.
 

ZeroFlowne

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Do you revel in imagining new worlds, characters and situations?
Do you see something in life, and imagine a great new story based on that sight?
When you write, are you having fun?

If the answer's yes, then...
 

CaroGirl

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I had a bit of a confidence-shaking few days, what with one thing and another. I'm considering quitting writing right now, as a matter of fact. As of this minute, I don't believe I'll ever be good enough to get published, and hope of getting published is the reason I write.

I hope I change my mind tomorrow. So, no advice here, just commiseration.
 

Phaeal

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I have to write like a maniac for the next year or so so I can take a two or three month sabbatical when Diablo III comes out. So I can't quit now. ;)

But seriously, folks. I have quit for long periods in the past, and something was always missing. So I'm in it for good now. Except for that Diablo III blast, of course.
 

Clio

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But when I told our daughter I was quitting, she said something that proves how smart she is. "Well, you can quit submitting if you want, but why quit writing when you love it? Isn't that a perfectly good reason to do it?"

Maryn, who's got herself one smart kid (well, two, actually)

How I agree. I've taken breaks from writing from time to time, when I'm lacking inspiration, or every time I read through things I've written and want to press that delete key. But it's what I love to do, and even if I'm never published or if no one ever reads me, at least I will be creating something and that gives me a great buzz.

I look at it this way - I'm absolutely useless at the classical guitar, and I've been trying to teach myself for years. I just love learning new pieces and making a halfway decent sound to soothe myself. I'll never be John Williams, but trying to do the thing brings me joy. Writing is exactly the same.

Truly joyous moments are rare things. We need to keep hold of them if we can.
 

wordmonkey

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Around March I was seriously thinking of quitting. I was in this to make a career, so this was a big deal for me. More than a hobby (nothing wrong with that, I just wanted something more). I had been chasing gigs, getting leads, then they'd die. Selling things hadn't be great. It was all just getting too soul destroying.

My plan was to quit, then mull over my options and probably just take a run at a new novel but without any pressure.

Then things changed. I now have a TV show that's in final negotiations with a serious production company (you HAVE heard of them); several comic books in the works; two more TV pitches that are doing the rounds and getting great feedback; I've been asked to write a movie; and I'm repped, via a company I work with, by one of the big three agents in LA.

You never know what is around the corner.
 

rhymegirl

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I think I have to agree with the ferret on this.
 

TrickyFiction

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I often feel like I'm a terrible writer. I never feel like quitting, though, I think because I started as a child and never thought anyone would read my stories. I was just a stupid kid, after all. My parents said I was good, but I thought they were lying. They only read my stuff when they felt they had to and then said all the things parents are supposed to say whenever their kids take an interest in anything.

So I always wrote for my own pleasure. Yep. Literary masturbation, I suppose. Maybe that's the ticket. Do what you must to enjoy what you do. But even that won't cure the I-suck-so-hard-I-would-make-a-much-better-vacuum-than-a-writer blues.

All you can do is... just keep swimming, I guess.
 

Diana W.

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I haven't thought about quitting (yet.) But I did take a break for a few weeks because there was a problem with my novel that I just couldn't put my finger on. So I stalled out and developed the biggest writers block I've experienced so far. Until today. Today at work I had an idea! Which led to another idea! Now I have to get writing again because I came up with what I hope is good stuff, especially towards the climax of the story.
 

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Let me offer up an alternative view to the never-give-up conformists. Life is not a movie. Sometimes people find great relief in letting go of an undeserving obsession.

Why would a horrible singer, someone without the bone structure or vocal cords, someone without any natural sense of rhythm, a person who couldn't carry a tune in two buckets, continue to forsake a balanced and normal life for an obsession to attain the unattainable? They will never be a singer. They embarrass themselves and their friends and family with their obsession.

"Never give up! You can do it!" It's nonsense. Some people just can't do it because they are not equipped for it. As we get older and closer to the end of our life, some of us are filled with regrets. We regret not learning to play an instrument, or learning a sport, or learning to paint, even writing a book. No one is an expert at everything in life. Having just tried is satisfying. Never having tried is the disappointment.

If you are not happy or enjoying what you're doing, don't do it anymore. Do something else. Unfortunately, you'll probably become obsessed at whatever the new thing is until you come to some understanding with yourself that your obsessions are more important to consider than what you are obsessed about. It can be very hard to resist the cultural crap foisted on you from the media that you can be or do anything in the world if you just persevere.

The world is a joke. Have a laugh at it while you're still in it.
 
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