How long do you hang in there?

Last week a woman in my writing group announced that she wouldn't be writing any more. She written seven books over a number of years and spent time revamping, revising, earnestly searching for feedback from fellow writers. And it's led to zilch. She doesn't have an agent or a publisher. She has seven manuscripts that she could work on forever but she's not sure it's worth.

And a couple of days later a close friend said much the same thing. She's more than a decade into the process without any significant publication credits. She doesn't have the heart to start something new.

And then....someone I met at MacDowell sent me an email. He's been following this blog and was commenting on my last post, in which I was basically describing the freak out period I'm in now as I await publication, the "four months out" syndrome. He basically said "enjoy this level of misery for as long as you can because once your book actually come sout, it will get worse."


Writing can be a very dark path. My children are 21 and 25 and if either one of them said they wanted to be a writer I would try to talk them out of it.

And yet....

With writing there is always a "yet." Some book not yet written, the agent you haven't let queried, some subject not yet explored. Because on the night the woman in my writing group said she was done, a man in the group sat there and gave her the standard speech. How you have to do it for love. How you have to do it because you can't not do it. The pleasure and meaning are in the process, not the results.

All those things people say about writing that are corny and trite and true.

But everyone has to find the right balance inside their own head. If it's making you miserable - if the inability to find publication is obliterating the joy you find in the proess it may indeed be time to step away from the desk. At least for a while.

Thoughts?