“I’m done.”

It was the title of a post I read three years ago. A woman had written her cozy, romantic mystery, self-published it, and didn’t have anything left.

“I’ve invested everything I can in this story, and now it’s done, I’m shutting down all my social media platforms. There just isn’t another story inside me, and I don’t want to do this anymore.”

She wasn’t the first one, and she won’t be the last.

You see them on social media occasionally, a long speech about how this isn’t for them, there’s no point, they may as well give up since they aren’t the next J.K. Rowling. They tend to either shut everything down only to come back months later, or I never see them again.

Writing for myself for the last five years has shown me that there are lot of people out there for whom this is simply a means to make money for very little effort; and it shows.

There are many pieces that are simply badly worded fanfiction of popular TV shows and movies, shipping favourite characters and catering to the author’s own fantasies. These writers then decide that since they’ve finished one novel that is the climax of their writing career and nothing will be as great as that novel.

There are others who have quietly worked away for years on a single piece, writing wonderful stories that contain a wealth of imagination and creative artistry. And yet I’ve sat back and watched as those great stories get pushed aside for bad covers and blurbs, poor editing, or simply the refusal to acknowledge that everyone needs a marketing plan, even a low/no budget one.

I’ve been torn between despair and amusement at the entire saturated industry that is indie publishing.

None of us know what we are doing when we start, myself included, and that’s true of pretty much every author. But one of the first things I learned was that it doesn’t matter how good your story is, if it’s the only one, and if you do nothing else, then nobody will really care about you as a writer.

I spoke to a Twitter user months ago with a quarter of a million followers, who was able to write full-time.

“What’s the secret?” I asked her.

“A book ever six months. Without fail.”

And she could back it up. She had over a dozen books out. She had a huge following. The icing on this particular cake? She has a family, and she didn’t write romance; she wrote crime fiction. Romance tends to be viewed as some sort of magical key into a perfect writing career and it’s not only incorrect, it’s prejudice. Against both other genres and romance itself.

Most writers work full-time at a job they aren’t invested in and are lucky if they even like it. Couple that with families and social lives, writing ends up becoming a back burner project for many who don’t find that immediate success. But, there is another underlying issue to that, which I have only come across recently.

Some people don’t have the creative drive after their novel is done.

You need decide how dedicated you want to be, how much you want it and what you are willing to give up to get it, because writing full-time is a dream many of us will never attain or can even sustain.

I ask myself almost on a weekly basis: What do I want to get out of this?

Ask yourself that question every time you feel like doing something else with your time. Writing can just be a hobby. Something you do in your spare time, that you happen to be passionate about. There are thousands of other hobbies just like it; painting, woodworking, knitting. But writing seems to have a hidden ultimatum in every author’s head, that if they aren’t writing full-time and if they don’t have a publishing deal, then they may as well give up.

And then they do.

It’s terrible.

To make matters worse, there are dozens of authors in that glorious position of being able to write full-time with publishing deals and movie contracts that puts a patina on the lifestyle that doesn’t exist.

How many times do you see an author with an enviable blue tick beside their name cry “I have imposter syndrome.”

How many times do you see an author with an enviable blue tick beside their name cry “I have imposter syndrome.” Even though they’ve effectively “made it” according to the rest of us striving to get there, they have the gall to suggest that they aren’t amazing and talented individuals who should be grateful! The bastards!

Do you know the difference between you and them?

They didn’t give up.

Many of them still have day jobs. Most have Patreon sites because the royalties they receive don’t cover the bills. They still have to pay most of their travel expenses and do most of the legwork on their marketing.

AND THEY STILL HAVE TO WRITE.

They may have thousands of story ideas, hundreds of half drafted concepts and tens of books sitting on their shelves. Their imposter syndrome comes from having to not only do it once, but over and over again, hoping the next book they write will be well received, wondering what magic was used to make that one special and replicating it if they can. However, there is something far more fundamental to what it is that they do that makes them successful.

The difference between you and them is deciding whether or not to give up. To take criticism on the chin and admit that their writing is flawed and needs improvement. Of accepting the changes an editor makes to better their original concept. Sometimes even acknowledging that a story isn’t enough on its own and shelving that project.

If you are going to do anything with you writing, what you need to determine is what you get out of it as you are right now. What do you want to have done with the time you are dedicating, can you keep it up, or are you tired and frustrated?

Quitting isn’t the answer.

Quitting isn’t the answer. To pack up shop and decide this isn’t for you, unless you truly mean it, and it’s for the best. Because the last thing I want to read is another tweet stating that because you didn’t get a movie deal this isn’t for you. That’s not what writing is about, and it’s not why our imaginations call to us; we write because we’re storytellers, and nothing can stop us.

Decide for yourself why you’re doing this, because ultimately, you’re doing it for you.

If you enjoyed this piece, please follow E.J. Dawson on Twitter @ejdawsonauthor.‬