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Quite frankly, you need to answer one question:

Do you want to write? More than anything else in the world?

If yes, you'll stick with it. You'll stick with it because you want it.

Do you just like the idea of writing?

If yes, you might write your whole life and never do anything with it, but you'll probably enjoy it.

Has writing become a chore? Do you 'want' to write, but have six things you'd rather do?

If so, stop writing. Do something else. Writing isn't the only hobby in the world, and it's not the only one that needs dedication.

But if what you want, more than anything in the world, is to write, than know that you won't be terrible forever. With just a tiny amount of focus and plenty of work, you can improve. Look for some authors blogs, join a solid critique circle, submit to the guild zine, PRACTICE. You'll get better.

No.

I want to write but I always have other s**t to do. Sometimes more important things, sometimes less important things I simply am more drawn to at the moment. I have six other things I'd rather do quite often. That doesn't mean I can't still be a writer.

You don't have to be dedicated to writing to keep it on as a hobby, and you don't need to be dedicated to be any good at it.

My preferring to hang out with friends, some drinks, and hottubbing at 0400 doesn't mean I should stop writing.

Sounds like you need to cop a "I don't give a rat's a**" attitude. Look, most of us here will never amount to anything with our writing. Let's be realistic on that. So don't go into this thinking that you need to make a difference or write something important. You don't have to. You only have to enjoy what you're doing - so go stand in front of a mirror and say: I write because I want to, I write what I want to, and what other people think or how many people read it doesn't matter one bit. Because I am doing this for myself and that's a wonderful thing.

Write because you can create a world and don't worry about anything else. Improvement will come later... love what you do first.

Also, RP and writing is soooo different. Don't judge your writing by your RP ability. I've known people who are amazing roleplayers but horrible writers and vice versa. It's like trying to play the piano when you've played the flute all your life. They're both musical instruments but you might as well be trying to learn something entirely new. The only similarities is that they both use sheet music much the same way writing and RP both use English.

Since apparently my question/answer approach was misunderstood:

Not everyone is going to keep writing. Sometimes you need to quit because quite honestly, practicality eventually becomes an issue. If Felia wants to quit, not a thing any of us say will stop her. And by trying to talk her into not quiting we're more likely to ruin her opinion of the hobby than save it.

Sometimes, walking away is the best option, even if eventually she'll come back to the hobby. Remember: Distance makes the heart grow fonder.

Which choice she makes is totally up to her, and I've offered some advice, and some links with semi-pertinent information.

Yeah, well, I've decided not to quit. I've thought about it and a place where I can't wrote seems like hell...I'm actually one of those people who can't stand the idea of not writing as it turns out. I just get so down about everything I try to accomplish with it. But I can't find myself quitting at it forever. Just maybe for a week at most.

The difference between what you initially said and what you said to clarify was that in the first, you offered a very common scenario that a lot of people are in and said: if this is you, quit.

The clarification was based around changing her mind if she was already set on something. It was based on her, as opposed to the more general "are you in this situation?" which by virtue of being about a situation should be much more generalized to that situation. Given that I am in that situation, I would have (and did) take it as you telling me I'm probably wasting my time -- and I know otherwise. Someone less sure of themselves, however, might not know otherwise, and to them... well, that's a really unfair thing to plant in their head.

It also helps that if she really was set on quitting and not looking for reasons to stick around, she would likely not have posted a thing and would have disappeared quietly like most people do.

Now, re. the RP thing.... Again, if I'm not getting your actual point there, correct me. How does RP hurt "other" (perhaps "real") writing? Maybe the kind of RP you're doing might -- and that seems to be what you mean, since your view of what RP is looks exactly like a specific sort, presumably what you see on this site(?) -- but there are a lot of different kinds of RP and a lot of it is exactly like writing a story, just with more than one author. That it would make a bad novel raw and crammed together rudely is another issue entirely -- and one that's frequently true of novels written by very good authors. That's why second drafts and editors exist.

Most of the RPing I actually bother to follow is like this. It's multiple people writing a rough draft for a novella. And it comes out very well-read for being a rough draft.

A novel has purpose. There is a specific goal in mind at the outset that you intend to reach, or describe how the protagonist does not reach. Even if you don't know how they're getting there, you have some idea of where they're going.

A role play rarely has such purpose, unless we're discussing tabletop games, and those have problems of their own.

For example: Dragonlance novels are terrible. Why? They're a role play turned prose.

Counter example: The Lord of the Rings. Arguably this and Dragonlance are related. The difference is, Tolkien knew where the fellowship was going and directed the plot there, things have purpose and follow along in an order. Even his faults ((Spending too much time describing the peace of the shire, for example.)) are bruises on an otherwise strong plot.

((There are other differences, but then we get into a discussion of literary classics and contemporary fiction and that debate is not pleasant, nor pretty.))

I used to think like you, as well. Haughty about what kind of role play I joined in, careful to be meticulous about what I was cultivating. And then somewhere I realized that it creates damn boring fiction. So I stopped. I'd rather practice making interesting fiction than practice what is accepted in role playing circles.