Keep on Going!

You've probably already seen this (I'm totally late to the party), but if you haven't, you ought to watch it. This is Neil Gaiman's commencement address at the University of the Arts graduation ceremony. 

There's a LOT to be learned from this speech, but here's what I took away this time:

Writing is hard sometimes. I'm behind on my word count for JulNoWriMo (already?? Yes, already) and I'm frustrated with my novel and ready to chuck it against a wall. Metaphorically. Otherwise I'd have to print it out first, no thank you. So many aspects are just not working the way I want them to, and sitting down to write feels like a wrestling match, with tears and sweat and injuries and waaaay too much spandex and the feeling of creeping horror that I've grabbed onto something I would have preferred never to grab.

But even though I sometimes hate writing, I never regret having written. Even the total flops, the utter trash, the stuff I will never ever show to another person simply out of compassion for my fellow human beings, all of that was worth my time because it taught me something. I learned what kind of stories sounded fun but were actually hard to execute, or how not to write dialogue, or how to pace scenes.

So even though I'm in a novel-chucking phase right now, I'm going to keep working. Somehow, it will all turn out for the best.

What helps you keep writing when the going gets tough?