Wouldn’t it be nice if we could pump quality books out at lightning speed? 

The idea comes, the writing flows, the plot appears on the page, the characters sizzle, and that ending! Wow!

No plot holes. No inconsistencies. No writer’s block. No internet distraction. No health or family delays. No rewrites. No annoying critique notes. No editor insisting we can do better. 

I’ll be real, a painless writing experience sounds appealing. Especially when I’m striving to do right by a story, when I’m fighting to figure things out, and when I’m exhausted by the effort.

But there’s a reason novel writing doesn’t work that way. This thing is difficult by design, and it does us good to rehearse the benefits of imperfect creators working hard to make art.

The easy path makes lazy adventurers. 

Somewhere along the way, many of us have gotten the idea that this life, and writing specifically, is supposed to be easy. If we’re talented enough, special enough, if this is our calling, storytelling will come naturally to us. Of course it will! If it doesn’t, we must be on the wrong path. 

But that’s simply not true. 

Every single one of us, regardless of the talent we’re born with, the privilege we hold or have been denied, are given a path to walk that will build our skills and our gifts for the challenges ahead. And while someone’s path may look easier than yours, I promise you, they have challenges you know nothing about. 

There’s no benefit to comparing yourself to anyone else anyway. Slow, fast, hard, easy? These are all relative terms, and that’s okay. It’s your journey, and your journey alone, you should be concerned about.

But if you’re second guessing yourself because writing a book is difficult, don’t. There are good reasons to walk away, but it’s just too hard isn’t one of them.

Difficult paths make us stronger. They give our stories depth. Unclear paths force our critical thinking to expand. When we wander too far afield, the time isn’t wasted; we come back wiser. 

An easy, straightforward path requires none of this from us. The easy path, if there is one, will make you lazy. I say avoid it.  

The journey matters most. 

I’m not going to lie and say the end product, the completed book, the destination doesn’t matter; that would be disingenuous. Of course it matters. It’s where this path is headed. It’s the why behind the work. But the quality of your day-to-day life is determined by how you write a book, not how fast you write it.

The trying and failing grows you. The search for a better way grows you. The craft books grow you. The brainstorming grows you. The research grows you. The courage to ask for feedback grows you. The working through frustration grows you. And when it’s all done, you get to celebrate that win and begin again. Because, friends, this life demands we keep growing. Writing a book is just one tool shaping you for the wider adventure of living.

So embrace the journey. Make your peace with the ups and downs, and then find a way to be grateful for both, because . . .

We need both valleys and mountaintops.

Once you’ve accepted that writing a novel is a journey, you begin to appreciate the varied terrain along the way. There will be long stretches of writing, some of it as simple as putting one word down after another, the effort plodding and steady. Enjoy these days for the lush green valleys they are. 

Without proper perspective, these writing sessions might feel slow or boring, but allow the writing itself to satisfy you. Approach your work like a curious wanderer, anxious to see what the day’s adventure holds.

Find ways to appreciate the process: Go for a walk as you brainstorm, stock up on your favorite teas or coffees to get you through the long sessions, make a playlist on Spotify, a story board on Pinterest, surround yourself with imagery and quotes, loop a friend in to read for you or hold you accountable, make a fancy Do Not Disturb sign. Value these consistent days in the writing cave. 

Because there will be other days. You won’t always feel like adventuring, no matter how interesting the journey once seemed. Some days you’ll find yourself on the wrong path altogether and it will be a fight to get back on track. 

The words won’t come. The computer won’t play nice. You get hurtful feedback. You write yourself into a shadowy place. 

And now you have to climb. Because not only do we need valleys, but we need mountaintops too. You can curse that difficulty you’ve run into because of the work needed to haul yourself up and out, or you can recognize it for the gift it is. 

Give that challenge the effort it requires, work to solve the problem, fight to get on top of it, because when you do there’s an exhilaration that comes with summiting the mountain. An excitement, a rush, a shot of adrenaline. Rewards that will energize you as you continue on.

And you must continue on, friend. There are many mountains to conquer before a book is completed.

The journey transforms you.

No one wants to admit this, but time is helpful in ways we don’t always appreciate. The ideas you have at the outset of a story look different two months down the road, six months down the road, a year down the road. With the story growing up all around you, you begin to see your choices in a new light. The decisions you made in the valley take on deeper meaning when viewed from a mountaintop.

And so, time and forward progress–even slowly made–provides you with plenty of opportunity to rethink, embellish, or scrap story elements you were once so set on.

Changing our minds isn’t usually an instantaneous thing. Whether it’s about a character, plot point, theme, style choice, dialogue snippet (or anything in life really!), we have a tendency to hold tight to our initial decisions. To grieve cutting or changing what we worked so hard to accomplish.

But time softens that resolve. It gives us perspective. While you may begrudge the long effort of novel writing, I encourage you to see how it’s changing you. Come completion, you won’t be the same person you were when you started. You will have transformed into something new altogether, and your story will be better for it.      

Tell me, do you struggle to stay the course when the journey gets difficult? What has helped you most of all?

Shannon Dittemore is an author and speaker. Her books include the Angel Eyes trilogy, a supernatural foray into the realm of angels and demons, as well as the fantastical adventure novel Winter, White and Wicked. Its sequel, Rebel, Brave and Brutal is due out January 10, 2023.

Shannon’s stories feature strong female leads grappling with fear and faith as they venture into the wilds of the unknown. She’s often wondered if she’s writing her own quest for bravery again and again.

It’s a choice she values highly. Bravery. And she’s never more inspired than when young people ball up their fist and punch fear in the face.

To that end, Shannon takes great joy in working with young writers, both in person and online at Go Teen Writers, an instructional blog recognized by Writer’s Digest four years running as a “101 Best Websites for Writers” selection.

For more about Shannon and her books, please visit her website, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.