Writers, whether new or accomplished, learning or learned, keep making the same mistake. It always leads to heartache.

Is it punctuation? Grammar? Spelling? Scene? Plot? Characterization?

Nyet.

It’s failing to write for yourself.

Every time I see “If you don’t like it, I’ll stop”, or “Person X said it sucked and I quit”, or “This is too hard, I’m leaving the fandom”, I die a little inside.

This is fandom. Nobody’s being paid for this. Nobody’s going to gain any lasting fame or following. There’s nothing to gain by pandering, or selling yourself out.

Let me make it clear: If you’re not writing for yourself, or for someone you love just as much as yourself, then you are doing it wrong.

Don’t fret over the mistakes. Don’t fret over the nay-sayers or the trolls. Don’t fret if you can’t get anyone to read your story. If you wrote it for yourself, and truly put your love and work into the pages, it will find an audience somewhere.

That’s not to say you shouldn’t seek to improve. Of course, that’s a goal all writers should seek. But first? Before you climb the mountain? As Captain Kirk would say, you have to love the mountain. ;)

And that’s all I have to say about that.