Being a writer is no joke. The business is high in rejection and bad for one's self esteem. The sector works a simple binary system: you either have the gigs or the pageviews and blog traffic or your don't. That is how your worth is measured.
The paradox is that 90% of working writers I know couldn't imagine themselves doing anything else. Writing is the only thing they are good at. The mentality is that if you have real talent and solid connections, you will have work.
That said, I was thrilled to find the piece below in the Economist last week, a piece that sites studies that show that difficulty is important when solving problems and learning. Difficulty, it seems, makes us sharper. Things being too easy cause lack of focus. Science shows that the struggle is worth it.
For a perfect example of this concept, read the Economist's obit of Dave Brubeck:
