Writing may be something we all love to do, but every good writer knows that writing is also a struggle like no other! It's wonderful when the words are flowing onto the page and the story just pours forth from your heart or mind. That book all but writes itself, right? But then you read over the rough draft and you realize that you have the bare bones, but you have to work at improving the writing quality, fix up the dialogue, alter this character, address this plot hole. Slowly, surely, the list of actual hard work begins to grow. By the time you finish re-drafting, you're still excited about the book, but you're getting kind of sick of it. You've read that same passage over and over again, and you've struggled with the same part of the book for days. After all of your efforts, it just doesn't look any better! And don't get me started on the frustration that mounts after you send the book to your beta readers and they fill it with notes and critiques. You basically have to go through the editing process again, fix all the mistakes you made, and keep making improvements. You may even have to re-write massive portions of the book simply because you didn't realize you were doing it all wrong. Then the editor hands the book back to you, and it looks like something straight out of a slasher movie. There's more red (notes) on the page than black (your text), and you have to spend more time working at it. By the time your book is ready to publish, you never want to see the damned thing ever again in your life. But the day comes when you finally get that first printed copy of your novel, and everything is totally worth it! You hold that creation of yours in your hands, inhale that "new book" smell, flip through those crisp pages, and marvel at the works of your hands. That, my friends, is when every annoyance and every shred of effort pays off. Leah LaBelle said, "Work hard for what you want because it won't come to you without a fight. You have to be strong and courageous and know that you can do anything you put your mind to. If somebody puts you down or criticizes you, just keep on believing in yourself and turn it into something positive." It is absolutely, 100% true! Writing is a fight, but it's totally worth it in the long run. Your struggles will be as nothing when you hold the prize in your hands.