I think I'm done writing

Well it started off for pleasure, but the wind has gone out of my sales. I have none. Covid hasn't helped either. I enjoyed writing while I wrote, just had to get the darn sort out of me. I never really considered myself a writer, so that's half the battle. Like I said, it was a fun ride. Now it's time to me to step off.

Brown,

I remember a job I hated but went back to every day -- it was like hitting your hand with a hammer and when you stopped the relief was so great you went back the next day to feel that sense of relief all over again.

Writing, for me is like that job. I do it because I must, where the only true pleasure is finishing a character's story to shut off the flow, then soon enough there's another character proverbially yelling in my ear.

Am I a writer? Not really per some, I just have stories to write and move on from. I never truly thought I'd make money and so far I haven't really been disappointed. It's also kind of hard to write when you have to keep getting up to take care of things.

Yet every time I've thought and spoken about deleting the whole mess, the spouse tells me to stop and wait a week or two. Give it a couple weeks, or perhaps a couple months, then ask yourself if the time to dismount is now.

COVID-19 has changed a lot of perceptions, though mine not so much. If one person reads your work and looks at the world in a different way then you've made a difference. I may be an asshole, but a few people who considered suicide decided not to because I spoke or wrote the right words.

Sales are nice, but at the end of the day the difference you make in peoples' lives means more and you never know how you affect the lives of others if they don't tell you. Time for me to fall silent, as I need to get back to my main job these days and clean out a training potty.

To seeya,
I forget the power behind a story, a sentence, or even a word whether fiction or non fiction. The inspiration, the fantastical, can and does bring relief and encouragement to those that read your words and turn them into pictures of hope and a smile.
I write on.

Markbrown, I know exactly how you feel and I'm happy both Cameron and Kevin have persuaded you to continue writing. I too don't consider myself a writer and was going to give up writing. I said so in the old forum but Kevin managed to persuade me to continue writing. I never write for the money. I write because I want to send a message out there. It could be about the difficult life of women in Saudi Arabia (my Stolen series), animal welfare (Let's be Kind) or to break stereotypes in books for children, (Dr Wolf, Maggie the Witch) I make many of my books free and I have had hundreds of them downloaded. Hopefully some will be read and I will get my message across. So it's good to hear you are going to keep writing whether it's to entertain, get a message out there or just because you enjoy it. Good Luck.

You should write because you enjoy writing, first and foremost. 

And you should absolutely not let Lulu, Amazon or B&N put you off writing...if for no other reason than that they are not the only way to get your stories in front of people.