Time to Quit?

[MillieDynamite]

If one doesn't write, how can they breathe? If one doesn't write, why would they live? If one doesn't write, how can they be so many different people and so many different things? No, writing is living, keep living, write more.

 

[KeithD]

A swimmer would say the same thing about swimming and a golfer the same thing about golfing. That doesn't mean it holds for anyone whose passion isn't swimming or golf. There are a lot of people writing who would be much better and happier swimming or golfing instead--as would their readers.

 

[MillieDynamite]

I don't golf, and only swim when my SO makes me. LOL

I am a writer, and damned proud of it. I don't claim to be good at what I do, I just write, write, and write some more. Which is what I should be doing.

 

[PBAnnie]

If you decide to take a break, keep it shorter than the one I'm currently on.

 

[KeithD]

I don't golf, and only swim when my SO makes me. LOL

I am a writer, and damned proud of it. I don't claim to be good at what I do, I just write, write, and write some more. Which is what I should be doing.

I'm not sure you get the point either.

 

[MillieDynamite]

My point is, if you are a writer, you write.

 

[KeithD]

My point is, if you are a writer, you write.

I responded to what you actually posted.

 

[SimonDoom]

My point is, if you are a writer, you write.

Not to nitpick, but I think that gets it backward. I think if you write you are a writer. I don't believe in the notion that we "are" something essentially, like a writer or a painter or a carpenter or a brain surgeon. You are what you do, no less and no more. You may love writing for 10 years and write productively, and then you may lose your mojo and stop. Then you're no longer a writer. There's no sense in thinking to yourself, when you stop writing, "I'm not being my essential self." We may be writers at one point in our lives, and something different later.

 

[KeithD]

Bingo. And you may have no interest in or aptitude for writing whatsoever. And that's just fine for you. In fact, there are a whole lot of folks, as I said, who would be happier and better trying something else altogether.

 

[SimonDoom]

Bingo. And you may have no interest in or aptitude for writing whatsoever. And that's just fine for you. .

I agree, more or less, but I think it's important to say this: People get way too wrapped around the axle about whether they have the ability to be a "writer." If you write, you're a writer. Writers come in all types and all levels of ability. Don't focus on what you "are." Focus on what you do, and make sure you're getting something out of it. If you are, that's enough.

 

[KeithD]

I agree, more or less, but I think it's important to say this: People get way too wrapped around the axle about whether they have the ability to be a "writer." If you write, you're a writer. Writers come in all types and all levels of ability. Don't focus on what you "are." Focus on what you do, and make sure you're getting something out of it. If you are, that's enough.

The axle I was trying to unwrap is "everybody's gotta be a writer or their life isn't worth living."

 

[MillieDynamite]

i never said "everybody has to be writer" when I said one it was referring to this one, me.

"If one doesn't write, how can they breathe? If one doesn't write, why would they live? If one doesn't write, how can they be so many different people and so many different things? No, writing is living, keep living, write more."

This statement is about me and how I feel about writing. Perhaps, I should have used I and me rather than one and they, but writing is my life and my livelihood.

 

[HStoner]

Bottom Line

I posed the original question in this thread. The takeaway I'm getting is that there is no number of stories that is "enough" or "too many." Fair?

 

[KeithD]

I posed the original question in this thread. The takeaway I'm getting is that there is no number of stories that is "enough" or "too many." Fair?

Right, I don't think there's any relationship between the desire to write and the number of works you've written. (If that's what you're asking.)

 

[ElectricBlue]

I posed the original question in this thread. The takeaway I'm getting is that there is no number of stories that is "enough" or "too many." Fair?

Fair comment. You keep going until you stop, I reckon.

There's no "right number, stop now." It's not like God handed out ten thousand sheets of paper and said, "That's your lot. Use them to wipe your ass or write a story, your choice." It's why pens were invented.

 

[SimonDoom]

The axle I was trying to unwrap is "everybody's gotta be a writer or their life isn't worth living."

I agree with this 100%.

People overthink this stuff. If you enjoy writing, write. You may get to a point where you've written what you want to write and you're done. Life doesn't end. Move on from writing to something else, like golf. Golf, like writing, is easy to do badly, but hard to do well, and it can be enjoyed at many different levels of skill.

I don't agree at all with the concept that some people, deep down, are writers. I don't think people are, deep down, anything. You are what you do. If you write, you're a writer. If you don't, you're not. My advice to people is to do what you want to do and don't get all worked up about who you are really "are" deep inside. On the inside, you're just blood and guts like everybody else.

 

[KeithD]

I mean, really. There's no "have to" in writing. Some people can't carry a tune in a basket, so they should just find something else to do other than singing.

What I really don't support is folks begging to be begged to do anything. If you have to be begged to do it, there's no particular reason you should be trying to do it--other than, maybe, taking the next breath. And I'm not sure just everyone should be begged to do that either.

So, maybe the best answer to the "Should I quit?" question be, yeah, sure, if you're asking the question at all.

 

[lovecraft68]

.

I don't agree at all with the concept that some people, deep down, are writers. I don't think people are, deep down, anything. You are what you do. If you write, you're a writer. If you don't, you're not. My advice to people is to do what you want to do and don't get all worked up about who you are really "are" deep inside. On the inside, you're just blood and guts like everybody else.

I disagree, people are meant to be certain things and it is ingrained in them 'deep down' if you will. If this wasn't the case, anyone could write, act, draw, design buildings, sculpt etc.

As you said in the golf analogy, its easy to go out on the course and whack the balls around, but hard to be good at it. The ones who are? Its in their blood, this especially explains people who are prodigy level from the get go.

And I do believe if you were meant to do something, have a gift so to speak, and you ignore it and do other things, you will feel a nagging sense something is missing in your life.

There are people who write story, maybe a few on whim, aren't bad at it, but then lose interest. Its not deep down for them, for them it was something to try. The ones who are meant to do it, are miserable when they can't do it.

Prove the debate by not writing for the next few months. Every time you want to, don't. If you find yourself not missing it in a few weeks, it wasn't 'deep down' for you. If you're empty without it...

 

[lovecraft68]

I mean, really. There's no "have to" in writing. Some people can't carry a tune in a basket, so they should just find something else to do other than singing.

What I really don't support is folks begging to be begged to do anything. If you have to be begged to do it, there's no particular reason you should be trying to do it--other than, maybe, taking the next breath. And I'm not sure just everyone should be begged to do that either.

So, maybe the best answer to the "Should I quit?" question be, yeah, sure, if you're asking the question at all.

Here you go with your patented "someone is trying to force someone to do something" hysteria, when no one is saying anything of the sort, at least not in the context you're putting it because as always, you're half reading what people are posting because you're in too much of a hurry to start hammering your point home...you know, bullying people in your direction.

Now that I've pointed it out, I've saved you some posts before you curl up in a ball and play poor me victim.

You write at a damn near OCD level to where you have to-not a bad thing mind you-so if we're wrong, stop.

But you won't.

probably because its not so much the writing as the attention you crave from it, regardless, you can't go without it.

 

[KeithD]

Here you go with your

And there you go. lurking and stalking and putting your nose up my butt because you are a sick little rabid puppy.

I didn't read much beyond this. You're a one-note samba.

 

[SimonDoom]

I disagree, people are meant to be certain things and it is ingrained in them 'deep down' if you will. If this wasn't the case, anyone could write, act, draw, design buildings, sculpt etc.

I don't completely disagree, but see it a little differently. I think there are two different issues -- the talent to do something, and actually doing something.

People are not equal. Talent is not distributed equally. Some people can look at something, and draw it, and most people can't. Most people suck at drawing even if they put a lot of effort into it. Same thing with writing.

But having the talent to write doesn't make one a writer. You have to do it. I spent my entire adulthood until the age of 52 thinking, "Hey, I should write fiction." But I didn't. Now I do, and it's incredibly fun. I'm not more talented than I used to be, and I'm not a different person than I was then, but I'm writing now, and I wasn't writing then. I wasn't a writer then, but I am now.

But someday I might lose interest in it. It's hard to imagine, but it might happen. Then I'll no longer be a writer, even if I have the talent to do it.

 

[KeithD]

Oh, just retract that you agree with me about anything (and, wow, that 100 percent. That really brought out LC's Karen), and LC's feathers will be unruffled.

 

[SimonDoom]

Oh, just retract that you agree with me about anything (and, wow, that 100 percent. That really brought out LC's Karen), and LC's feathers will be unruffled.

Woh. Wait a minute. Is that directed at me? If so, this seems like an unnecessary effort to find rancor where none is needed.

I still agree with what you said before, 100%. I disagree with Lovecraft's point of view, although I think he has a point and the point of my thread was to acknowledge that.

It's not impossible for us all to get along, if we make a little effort to do so.

 

[KeithD]

Woh. Wait a minute. Is that directed at me? If so, this seems like an unnecessary effort to find rancor where none is needed.

I still agree with what you said before, 100%. I disagree with Lovecraft's point of view, although I think he has a point and the point of my thread was to acknowledge that.

It's not impossible for us all to get along, if we make a little effort to do so.

No, it's aimed directly at the stalking, rabid sick puppy, Lovecraft68.

I pretty much ignore him. But if you've checked over the years you've seen his obsession with me.

And I'm quite serious that it was your posting that you agreed with me on something, with the 100 percent being the tipping point, that set off his attack on me, which is sort of funny, because he fundamentally agrees with the position I was taking.

You may not be tired of LC periodically taking a rabidly wielded personal vendetta meat cleaver to the AH. I certainly am. The thread title is quite prophetic here. This would be a good time for LC to stop this personal attack behavior on the AH.

 

[SamScribble]

As a child, I thought that I might become a painter rather than a writer. I think I may have been influenced by the fact that one of my grandfathers was a painter and, through him, I got to meet several other painters.

Several of the painters I got to know were highly acclaimed, both critically and commercially. Two in particular. One of them ‘retired’ shortly after his 65th birthday. ‘I think I’ve painted pretty much everything I wanted to paint,’ he said. The other lived to be 98 and was still painting the year that he died.

Different folks, different (brush) strokes. I don’t see why it wouldn’t be the same with writers. Personally, I feel the need to go right to the end. And (on EB’s advice ) I have a pen and a notebook ready for the nurse at the hospice.