This is going to be a quick one, I’m dealing with a lot of real-life problems at the moment and have very little time for blogging, but here we go anyhow because this comes up a lot. I’m talking about it in reference to writing, but it comes up in other things as well. Apply what I say as you will.

So this popped up on Reddit today, although I’ve seen it hundreds of times elsewhere. Someone asked how they could concentrate and write because they kept starting things and then losing interest and doing something else.

Fine, that’s incredibly common. The only solution comes from within. Nobody online can force you to take your writing seriously. Nobody ever said that this was going to be easy. You have to develop self-discipline and personal accountability. If you’re stopping in the middle of things, stop doing it. It’s that simple.

Yes, I know that it isn’t that easy, especially for someone who isn’t used to forcing themselves to do what’s necessary, but it’s still the only answer. Successful people do things that lead to success. Lather, rinse, repeat. Successful people don’t have others hanging over their shoulder, telling them what they have to do. They just do it. They find their own way. They are self-empowered. Tons of amateur writers seem to have a problem with that.

I should have predicted this, but the answer came back immediately. “I have ADHD!” That tends to be a common excuse, but excuses don’t matter. Successful people don’t make excuses, they find a way to deal with their problems and make them go away. If you have ADHD, and I mean actually have it, confirmed by a doctor and it isn’t something that you yanked out of your ass as an excuse for lacking a work ethic, then talk to your doctor and see if there’s anything he can do. That’s how you deal with the excuse, you find a way to deal with it.

“Oh no, I’m a minor, I can’t get a prescription!” *sigh* Okay, now we know that this isn’t a legitimately diagnosed problem. It’s some kid with zero attention span making excuses. Now I know that I should have just walked away at this point, this wasn’t getting anywhere useful. It’s someone who wants a magic pill and doesn’t want to put in any actual work. I’m just dumb so I persisted, at least for one more round, but I could see it coming.

Go to your parents. Certainly they can get you a prescription if one is available. Then I stopped to wait because I knew what was coming next. “They won’t do it! They hate me!”

Um… yeah. That was it. This is someone who either has a terrible home life, which nobody can fix, or they’re just making things up, which is incredibly likely and they just want a way around their own laziness. I just walked away. You can’t deal with people like this.

Here’s the thing though. If you can’t write, for whatever reason, medical or psychological or whatever, don’t write. It doesn’t matter if you want to, if you can’t, you can’t. Find something else to do. This is how adults deal with the situation, but as I wasn’t talking to an adult, there’s no point in proceeding. If you can’t fix the problem and the problem gets in the way of your wishes and dreams, get different wishes and dreams. That’s all there is to it.

I know that might be disappointing, but life is all about handling disappointment. Get over it and move on. We come right back around to the behaviors of successful people. Successful people do what breeds success and do not do what breeds failure. Nobody is perfect, but if you want to be a writer, you have to write. You can’t make excuses. You can’t whine and complain. You need to put ass in seat and do it whether you feel like it or not. You need to hold yourself accountable, otherwise you will fail.

Far too many people can’t handle that which is why far too many people don’t get anywhere. There are no shortcuts. There are no secrets. It’s all hard work. Do it or don’t. That’s all there is to it.