Very often I find myself sitting behind a laptop with an open Word document that has two sentences on it. That’s it. I’m hoping it’ll be the start of my next novel, or the perfect hook for my latest short story. All the hope I feel proves useless when I just can’t get any further. Everything I type feels wrong. Eventually I get to the point where I wonder why I’m even spending time writing. It’s because of one simple truth writers everywhere know to be true: writing is excruciatingly difficult.

Whether you write on a MacBook, a Moleskine notebook, or an 1885 Crandell New Model typewriter, you’ll be stumped often. It might because you don’t know where your plot line is going. You might be having severe doubts about how realistic your character’s dialogue is. Self-doubt as a writer can be crushing. Is everything that you’ve come up with simply a rewrite of a piece you recently read? How are you ever going to write something original? You’ll feel like you should never write another sentence again.

Keep writing. You have to. There are too many books that remain unwritten because these feelings of uncertainty in people take over. You will write awful stories, but odds are you’ll write at least one good one. Lots of terrible books get published every year, so there’s no reason you shouldn’t continue writing. You might not realize the perspectives you have to offer the world.

Write when it seems useless or unimportant. Write when you’re struggling. Poverty, sexism, racism, warfare, and the whole range of human evils can be transformed into art. You can create literature that will help those going through similar situations. Literature can help build the bridge between your experiences and getting those who will never have to experience them to at least understand and empathize.

It won’t be easy. Writing never is, but it will be worth it. And if you’re looking for a sign to start your next story or finish that half-written novel, this is it. This is your sign.