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Writing can be therapeutic, rewarding and exciting. It can also be a lonely, thankless proccess.

If you find yourself dragging yourself to the keyboard, or sitting for hours staring into space, maybe it is time for you to take a break from writing.

If you are no longer having fun posting your poems, prose, stories, etc., to any one of the many writing sites, perhaps today is the day you take a time out. Remember when you used to write for fun? Remember when the challenge, the only goal, was getting the words down on paper to the best of your ability? Taking pride in your work and seeing your name in print? Seeing how your work got progressively better, smoother, etc., as the weeks turned to months?

Life is challenging enough. We learn from early childhood that accolades are life's rewards. We want to be the prettiest, the smartest, the sexiest; whatever. We want mommy and daddy to love us the best. We want to be the teachers pet and the most popular kid on the school bus. We want to win the spelling bee, and the baseball game, and the track & field ribbons. We want, we want, we want

Get over yourself already! Chances are you will never be the next Stephen King, so what? Chances are you will not be the next J.K. Rawlings, either. In fact, chances are you will never be a published author unless you self publish. Unless you have a mega market for your self published work, that isn't going to work either. Live with it!

Writing sites are meant to be fun, and also are a place where you can receive tips and techniques to better your skill. That's all. Any pennies or dollars that come along are just a bonus. Consider them as such. If you are spewing out trivia and trash that you won't even put your real name on, then yeah, you might make a couple of bucks, but at what cost? Hiding behind the guise of a "user name" while proclaiming that you are a "writer" kind of makes me giggle. If you have a hundred articles and the last one is no better than the first one, then what? Have you stretched your imagination or your talent? Have you increased your chances of actually being published and making money? Write for love, not money. After all, it is supposed to be fun, isn't it?

Learn more about this author, Melinda Barr.
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