Talk to any writer and at some point in their writing journey they have hit a speedbump that has forced them to question the validity of their project.

This book sucks!

My characters are drab.

No one wants to read this story.

At that point we either a) cry/scream/get mad/eat our weight in ice cream, b) walk away from a half finished project, or c) give it some time, air and a bit more legwork to get it done.

This IS the creative journey. Creating and questioning, creating and questioning, creating and questioning on endless rotation. We really are an axious bunch.

To help my own thoughts in this area I thought I’d find some non-fiction on the topic of quitting. I came across a fantastic book called (you guessed it) ‘Quit’ by Annie Duke. I recommend that everyone reads this book – Duke highlights the discernment we all need to know with confidence that by quitting one project, we free ourselves up to complete a different one. And chances are, the one we do complete turns out better because we were pushing forward with the project with the higher success rate. I love this idea. But I also hate this idea at the same time.

Why? Hustle culture tells me to keep pushing, no matter what.

Hustle culture has directed my sad and sorry footsteps since childhood, like it has for many of us. We are only our accomplishments in our culture. All too often as writers we set the same rules of ‘performance’ for our written work, but often that chokes it. We are not creative when our creative voice is constricted. On top of that we’ve been led to believe that we must finish what we start (anyone else hear that growing up?). And again to that I say, hoorah! But also, ew. I want to work on the projects that call me, and the ones I know I have a handle on.

But in her book, Duke gave me permission to snap that “rule” in half. Sometimes quitting is the best next step. It took me a while to know what to do with that idea.

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Success does not lie in sticking to things. It lies in picking the right thing to stick to and quitting the rest.

Annie Duke, Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away

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So after that reading I resolved to look for the signs, and forge ahead with the projects that had a “click” to them.

But then I read another book – ‘The Obtsacle is the Way’ by Ryan Holiday. Ooooof, completely different direction.

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It’s okay to be discouraged. It’s not okay to quit. To know you want to quit but to plant your feet and keep inching closer until you take the impenetrable fortress you’ve decided to lay siege to in your own life—that’s persistence.

Ryan Holiday, The Obstacle is the Way

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So…don’t quit? The opposite readings had be baffled. On the one hand yes – quit when a project is not progressing and you’re likely to see greater success elsewhere. But on the other – do not quit, push through the obstacle, the obstacle IS your path.

Again I was torn – I simultaneously loved the message, whilst also despising it. I couldn’t make sense of how to sit in the between these two books.

But as I’ve continued writing I’ve realised how much of the business world has seeped into our creative one. I, myself, have a marketing postgraduate, so I understand how the message of both books can be viewed from a business standpoint.

The meaning of these two concepts, however, completely changes when you think of them in relation to art. Businessmen say it’s easy to know when you should quit a new program, product or project – when the costs outweigh the benefits. I don’t believe that same metric should be used for art. What matters more is the message and the potential incoming connection with a reader or viewer, that the project enables. What I am thinking, you can feel and experience for yourself. So it leads us to ask the question – why do we write to begin with? Is this process about collecting your thoughts? Are you writing to convey a political or social message? Are you writing to make money (some people do!)? Do you want to write for people who have had the same experience as you, to let them know they are not alone?

Only you, the writer, can answer these questions. And I believe your answer would change depending on what it is you’re writing, and why you’re writing it.

I don’t believe our choices as writers are as black and white as ‘just quit!’ or ‘don’t you dare give up!’. We live in the grey in between. Some days yes, we walk away. Other days no, we push through. This is what makes art and the practice of art so important. If a writer has pushed through the process and delivered a piece, no matter how big or small, you know that the decision to continue didn’t come down simply to dollar figures or a cost-benefit analysis. You know it came from a specific place, with a specific purpose, and it was crafted for you to read. That is priceless.