Don't Give Up!!

I must have been about ten years old, I’m guessing. My piano teacher asked me to buy some new music and recommended the shop that would have it. Now, for those who don’t know Portsmouth, I’ll explain the layout. From the seafront, Burgoyne Road becomes Waverley Road, becomes Lawrence Road, then Fawcett Road, Fratton Road, Kingston Road, Hilsea Road and so on until you hit the sea again, somewhere in the north of Scotland. I lived on Lawrence Road so basically walked due north, heading for Waites Music in Kingston Road. My only plan was to keep walking until I happened upon the shop, which I’d never visited before. I walked and walked and walked. Eventually, convinced that I must have misunderstood the simple, nay fool-proof, directions, I turned back and went home empty-handed. The next day, my dad drove us through the city on the way to visit our grandparents. I recognised the spot where I’d decided to give up my quest and realised, with some degree of frustration, that the shop was probably only another twenty paces further on, around a slight curve in the road.

I don’t know what your writing journey looks like. I don’t know the destination you are heading for, how long you’ve been going and what you plan to do when you get there. I don’t know the burdens you carry nor the companions (good or otherwise) that accompany you. But one thing I’m pretty sure of is that at some point you will get tired, lose (or think you’ve lost) the way and will contemplate giving up.

My simple message to you this month is this: please don’t do that.

Now, I realise that there are natural shelf-lives for most of life’s activities and even at my (*coughs lightly) tender age, there are some things I’ve had to let go of. We can’t possibly cram everything into our tightly limited 24-hour set up and wisdom dictates we have to pick and choose. However, this is not the context in which I’m writing. I’m addressing those of you who have found the way ahead fogged up by other people’s unhelpful reactions and whose toes are sore from kicking at doors which refuse to open.

Jesus told a parable regarding a fruiting tree that had so far failed to crop. “Dig it up!” cried the landowner. “It’s a waste of space!” But Jesus describes the gardener advising differently. “Give it another year. Dig round it, fertilise it, sing to it and remind it what it’s supposed to do for a living. Only after that do you consider uprooting it and planting marrows instead.”

So, to the weary, as-yet-unfruitful writers; to the distracted, despondent pen-smiths; to the once-hopeful, the well-intentioned and anyone else who’s reading, I say this:

You’re a writer.

Remind yourself of it, often.

Re-visit the map.

Keep going.

Don’t give up.

 Jane Walters is the author of Too Soon (Jane Clamp, SPCK) and writes regularly for UCB. She leads two ACW groups in Norfolk and writing retreats further afield. She is Vice Chair of ACW.