Sometimes the road is hard: Have you ever wanted to QUIT?

Anyone who writes can tell you that it ain't all roses in today's publishing environment. If you choose the traditional route, you have a difficult path to trod. Agents and publishers are more selective than ever before. If you do not have some sort of "platform" you may very well be passed over. And by platform I mean notice. Somebody out there has to have friended or followed you and given your name and your work's name a Google boost or you literally are not known. And the ones in the industry are skeptical about anyone who is not known.

Long Shot

If you decide to go the other way and DIY with indie or self-publishing, well, get ready for an equally rough ride. You better have some $$ and can afford to pay an editor and cover artist or you might never sell the first book. Today, there are so many people using Amazon for Kindle and print distribution that you are just a face in a sea of faces-and you have to make your book stand out. It is no longer enough to just throw it up on the digital shelf and say here I am. What if you don't have boatloads of money?

Well, sometimes the whole notion just makes one wonder why we ever got started on this journey to begin with. And I have only mentioned the breaking in stuff...I haven't even touched the promotional aspect. When you factor that into the equation, no wonder there is so much angst amongst writers.

So if the road is this hard, have you ever thought about quitting? Just hanging up your pen and paper and walking away? What keeps you motivated to keep on keeping on?