Why Do Passionate Writers Fail to Publish - Part V

MORALE LOSS.

The most common form of morale loss occurs at such time the writer finally realizes their efforts are not nearly as good as they suspected. The writer returns to a favorite slice of scene or prose, seeking to admire, build confidence, only to discover their source of confidence has gone stale and awkward, perhaps even offensive. So what has happened?

Writers who fail to understand that such realizations are necessary watersheds (and they happen to all writers!) and indicators of growth, become disillusioned. They quit ... Even worse, they might fail to see the shortcomings in their efforts and proceed to infect everyone with the work, thus resulting in rooms full of averted eyes and frozen smiles.

The second biggest cause of morale loss results from zero success in selling the novel. It's been dragging on for years. The novel ms has been shopped around to thousands of agents. No one is buying and feedback is confusing (because boilerplate comes in various forms). The "novel" now rests like a one ton anchor on the writer's desk (awaiting rope and neck)--eight years later and still not ready despite several restarts and who knows how many total drafts!

So it's time to find an able assist or else start a new project.  It's rare that a first-time author gets published without having endured several novel projects ahead of time.  They keep at it till something works.  Tenacity wins in this biz.