Writing

This is in response to s friend, who wrote (correctly) "writing is hard, it's not supposed to be easy, (and this) comes into direct conflict with the market reality that you need to produce frequently and consistently to succeed commercially."

My comment was:

There are people who succeed without writing a lot and publishing regularly. William Gibson comes to mind. What about George Martin? He writes big books, but they don't come out quickly. However the rule seems to be frequent books, always on schedule. Either you do this, or you are likely to have a less impressive career. I opted for the less impressive career. I'm a slow writer, and I can find a lot of things more interesting than writing. There is a trap, which I got caught in. If you can't make a living by writing, you need a day job. The day job reduces the time you have for writing, which means you write less and writing takes longer, and you are less likely to be able to build a career. Some people are absolutely driven to write and publish and make time for the writing. I don't think I was ever that driven.

Discipline also helps, along with drive. I'm not sure I have enough.

I have two other problems. I want my stories to be the best I can do, and that may take more time. And I don't want to write the same story twice. The easiest way to make production is to repeat yourself. An assembly line doesn't work if every car is different.