Just Keep Going

Posted on June 10th, 2008, by Meggin McIntosh

I read LOTS of novels…and last week, I read The Suspect by John Lescroart (I think I’ve read all his books, or pretty close to it). Anyway, two of the main characters have this conversation:

“So.” Gina hesitated, then figured what the hell. She wanted to know. “What about writer’s block? Do you ever get that?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Never?”

Now Stuart broke one of his first true smiles. “I’m talking to a writer, aren’t I?”

Gina lifted her shoulders, let them down. “Halfway through a bad legal thriller. Wondering how you get all the way to the end.”

“Just keep going.”

“Ha.”

“Well, it’s what I do. I suppose I get times where the ideas don’t exactly flow, but the best definition of writer’s block I ever heard was that it was a failure of nerve. It’s not something outside of you, trying to stop you. It’s your own fear that you won’t say it right, or get it right, or won’t be smart or clever enough. But once you acknowledge it’s just fear, you decide you’re not going to let it beat you, and you keep pushing on….” (p. 93)

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So, that’s the message…Just keep going…and never let your nerves fail you….even when they do. Just keep going.

Posted by Meggin | 6/10/08