How do you know whether to ditch writing or stick at it?

[OldLeatherSuitcase]

For the last year and 9 months I've been trying and failing to write a novel.

I am so frustrated and dispirited. I see issues with my writing, my story ideas, my stupid brain, and my personality.

Today I think maybe I'd just be happier if I stopped trying to do this very difficult thing?! But the other half of me worries that maybe I should persist and then I might manage to overcome my difficulties. I'm not sure which route is better for my mental health!

Chuck all the rules out of the window and forget all the stuff from the writing course. It's just bogging you down and spoiling the fun for you.

Try to get back into that place you were when you wrote the first 3 chapters and really enjoyed it.

Mix yourself a martini. Put on a really fabulous kaftan. And write however you want to write and sod everybody else.

Find that space again. :)

*Mix yourself a martini. Put on a really fabulous kaftan. And write however you want to write and sod everybody else.

Find that space again.*

Love this. To my mind the best piece of advice.

*Mix yourself a martini. Put on a really fabulous kaftan. And write however you want to write and sod everybody else.

Find that space again.*

I love this advice too. Also, shopping for a fabulous kaftan will be a deliciously fun starting point.

Sapiophile I mean things like making sure there's an inciting incident early on, making sure my main character has a strong goal with obstacles, following structure guidance to make sure there's the right kind of action at the midpoint and a 'dark night of the soul' and an 'all is lost' moment etc.

It's been so useful to articulate this on this thread, I hadn't consciously realised until today that I'd lost the joy of writing and hadn't realised that I'd let the learning and application of writerly rules and techniques get in the way of my creativity.

Time to embrace the kaftan approach!

I'd second the idea of doing NaNoWriMo for fun.
Don't go in saying you're going to create a masterpiece, but say you're going to write a story you want to read.

I write because I like writing. I've written stories for my dc, and I'll sit down and write those-NaNo's great for those as 50k is approximately the length they want to write.

I also have a huge rambling fantasy. It started about 15 years ago when I was writing around babies. It's now on its fifth or sixth story, can't even remember that.
It disobeys all the rules, totally implausible, even for a fantasy, and would never stand up to anyone reading it, but I enjoy writing it.

I may have 6 months or more where I don't touch it, then I get an idea and may write daily for a month.