101 Reasons to Stop Writing

… welcome. I’m here to help.

101 Reasons to Stop Writing is the online gathering point for a small but powerful cabal of publishing industry heavyweights, dedicated to filling in all the shallow parts of the pool of writing "talent". Unfortunately the site is also frequented by hundreds of wannabe writers, secretly hoping that their competition will get the message, while unshakeable in their own delusion that the site is not directed at them.

The questions you’re dying to ask, but won’t, are probably answered on the About This Blog page. Suffice it to say that:

• Yes, I’m serious.
• Yes, I mean You.

The blog is a work-in-progress, which is my way of saying that I’m a mite short of 101 in the Reasons department, thus far. Nos. 1-15 are listed on the Reasons page.

101 Reasons’ Demotivators are your fears and anxieties about your creative inadequacy, rendered in visual form and sized conveniently for display as your desktop background. A new Demotivator is published each month.

During November we celebrate National No Writing Month. We don’t celebrate NaNoWriMo.

If you like your news with tell-it-like-it-really-is commentary, the Weekend Updates cover all the publishing news you could possibly want to know, and a lot of stuff you’ll probably wish you could un-know.

Paul Riddell, former unhappy writer now happily retired, shares his unique perspective and insight, and the occasional stock tip, in his Guest Posts.

Visit our 101 Reasons Store for t-shirts, posters and other gift items that will help get the point across to a loved one. This month’s hot item is the Stop Writing 2008 Calendar, as featured in Paper Cuts, the New York Times Book Review blog.

101 Reasons is over a year old, with over 200 articles. The organisational structure of the archives is for shit at the moment, so if you want to know if your favourite author has been mentioned, please use the Search box in the sidebar.

If you use a feed reader, you can subscribe to the 101 Reasons feed to get full text updates. If you don’t know what a feed reader is, you can get updates via email, using the Subscribe box in the sidebar. Your email address will be kept private, and you won’t get spam. Not from here, anyway.

Your comments are invited, whether you agree with me or not. There’s a comment link at the bottom of every post. There’s also an option to rate each post.

You can abuse me privately at seanlindsay@101reasonstostopwriting.com

While you’ve been reading this, a virus embedded in the page automatically uploaded the last few paragraphs of your work in progress to me. Not going too well, is it?