never, never, never, never give up

I misquote Churchill, because “never give up” galvanises me more right now than “never give in”. Though maybe the latter is more constructive. Maybe this is war.

After a couple of weeks of productive writing (which coincided, without coincidence, with me doing all my dishes every single night) I have hit a general, across the board wall. No surprises, then, that the wall applies equally to my blog, and that I found a large-ish cockroach in my kitchen the other day.

I have noticed a feeling of quiet confidence in me. Actually, quiet is the wrong adjective, because it’s more stubborn and immutable than quiet. It’s not trumpeting from the rooftops or anything (who used to trumpet from the rooftops, anyway?), it just is.

The confidence says: If you keep writing, keep progressing, keep learning and breaking it down and polishing it up, you will be published.

We’re always being told this. The main reason people don’t get published is that they give up. It seems like a pretty straight-forward equation: just keep writing. So it’s amazing to me how even with this sense that I’m on my way towards what I want, it quite frequently feels impossible.

For right now, then, writing is an endurance sport.

Comments 3 Responses

  1. WordlyWonder

    Writing is an endurance sport! Thanks for the honest and encouraging post. I’ve noticed that whenever I keep my apartment clean, I’m able to focus on my writing that much more. Now, trying to get the motivation to clean AND write – that’s the tough part 🙂

    1. anna cowan Post author

      my pleasure! And you’re right about the tough part….

      You know what’s funny, though – it seems like double the motivation to clean AND write, but actually, I think they work like a crazy juggling act: when you get them both going at the same time, they build momentum and actually GIVE you energy. (The trick is to not look down, or up, or whatever.)

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