DIE ACTOR DIE

Hey writers!

Starting to write is hard, Stephen King agrees.

Stopping (rather trying not to stop) can be even harder. Ken Levine gives you his two cents.

Money shot:

Writing is rewarding but never easy. We resist starting and constantly fight the temptation to stop. Kurt Vonnegut talked of the difficulty. He said whenever he’s in a room with writers they’ll all be bitching about how hard the process is. All except one. He’ll say it’s a breeze. Every day it just flows. Invariably HE’S the worst writer in the room.

And I’ll give you mine: I stop when the ideas stop, I stop when I get blocked, I stop when I am done the first draft and really don’t feel like going over it again at this moment, I stop when it’s 5 minutes past the deadline, I stop when I realize I can’t fix it and someone else needs to come in, I stop when I make myself laugh deep (I know that laugh and I love the feeling. It’s the feeling of confidence), I stop when my boss walks by, and I stop when my wife reads it and tells me it’s funny.

I know when it’s time to stop and I know when I am just getting lazy. The trick is recognizing the difference.