It takes a lot of words to build up a writing career.

Each word a brick, stacked one on the other, until you reach the “top” or whatever.

For some, that fact is enough to stall them out.

They look at the mountain of work before them and quit on the spot.

But here’s the thing…

You gain nothing by quitting.

Life will still be hard.

You still have to work. At your job. At your relationships. At whatever.

You are always at the bottom of some mountain looking up.

What you might not know yet is that you can choose which mountain to climb.

If you’re forced to climb, why not choose the one with the best views?

You’ve got to pay the bills somehow. You can do it writing fiction, or you can do it getting a second job you hate.

Either way, work is going to happen.

The more you avoid it, put it off, ignore it, the more it hurts later when you have to pay the price anyways.

“I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor. Rich is better.”

Money doesn’t solve all your problems, but it does solve your money problems.

Why not work hard at something you want to be good at?

Why not arm yourself with a skill (writing fiction) that will always be in demand?

Why not do something more than just watching other people do what you want to do?

The hard work is going to come.

If you do it now you’ll get to choose which mountain you want to climb.

If you wait to do it later, your choices dry up and you’re left with the mountain nobody wants to climb.

I recommend just doing the work now.

Mike “Your Mountain Guide” Shreeve

P.S. Wrote 2,210 words today.

The more I write this book, the more I like it. The more excited I get about it.

Most of the time, I start a book with a vague indifference towards it.

By the end, I want it to go on forever and ever.

Writing is such a curious animal.