Art isn’t Easy

However, no matter how thankful we, as artists & writers are, to JK Rowling for breaking open the industry and getting kids and adults to read again, we now find ourselves in a new cycle of commercial is-it-as-good-as Rowling's work for YA, for wizardry, for adventure, for commercial viability...The industry had to be convinced that Harry Potter was viable. Now it is all part of the cycle.

So where will my story fall into all of this? At the moment at Sondheim's third point:

In theory, I shouldn't care. I need to write the best story I can. That's how it all started. I had a story, a giant what-if, burning under my skin and it came gushing from me. Then I began learning everything I didn't know, I don't know. I've been tuning my craft. I've analyzed and read and run my head right up against a giant stone wall. The words that once flowed from me are now choking in my throat. All of the demons that writers know so well are included, for a rundown of these Chris Mandeville shares the list with pictures even!