Do YOU really love to write?

Writing is hard work. If you remember the day you first sat down to write, you probably just thought about the beauty and the whole greatness of your story. I look back now, and the first time I wrote a story was probably when I was under 10, but it wasn't a novel. It was a (I actually thought I would publish it!) picture book written with terrible grammar. Ha! Writing a novel is after all a great accomplishment, and one which we forget after we fail with query letters. Yes, everyone goes through it. At least the majority. Everyone gets rejected. Whether it is your first manuscript which was rejected or you are still getting rejected, we all do some time in our life. That's when I looked back and asked myself one question. Is this really worth my time?

Life is short and time is limited and in order to prevail (I am starting to speak like my characters) you have to use it wisely. When you are receiving dozens of rejection letters you slump. So many people I know have given up, thinking that giving up proves they are strong enough to admit the truth. So many writers I know actually stopped writing. Those that did didn't love their craft. They thought that they would send out a query letter and their dream agent would fall in love. Like that really happens...And the ones that did really love the craft came back years later only to shed tears over the fact that they are now late and they have less time to pursue their goal. I have had a share of rejections in my short life and I understand them more than anything. I didn't give up. I kept writing and rewriting and most of all I enjoyed it. Every bit of it. Now that my first novel is finished and I am nearing completion of perfection on my 13 other works I miss writing about those characters and those world and I have to keep writing. I just have to.

So I have passed that slump where I felt like giving up my dream of publication and realized that I don't write for publication. I write for myself, I write for my characters. Now, I've been struck with luck as one might call it. Or perhaps to be truthful, I've simply improved my writing a ton. The requests are piling up and I am at a very satisfactory rate of rejections. 46% positive responses. I couldn't ask for anything better and I can't wait to see what happens. Maybe I will have an agent before I am an adult! Amazing and exciting, not that age really counts. But mainly, I would have never seen those responses if I would have given up. So ask yourself this...Do I really love writing? Trust me, I know you won't stop.

Just for the fun of it, have you ever quit? Have you ever stopped writing for even a week just because you were in a slump?

Oh and another update...I have been reading up like mad in my genre...I guess reading is essential for writing, but I don't feel I've learned much yet I will be hosting some great contests to give away awesome best selling fantasy novels! YAY! Spread the word wonderful followers :D

Cheers!