artists don't get down to work until the pain of working is exceeded by the pain of not working. -Stephen Destaebler

Basically, those who continue to make art are those who have learned how to continue -or more precisely, have learned how to not quit. (p.9)
Fear that your next work will fail is a normal, recurring and generally healthy part of the artmaking cycle. It happens all the time: you focus on some new idea in your work, you try it out, run with it for awhile, reach a point of diminishing returns, and eventually decide it's not worth pursuing further.

Quitting is fundamentally different from stopping. The latter happens all the time. Quitting happens once. Quitting means not starting again- and art is all about starting again. (p.10)

With individual artwork it means leaving some loose thread, some unresolved issue, to carry forward and explore in the next piece. With larger goals it means always carrying within you the seed crystal for your next destination. (p.11)

Operating manual for not quitting

1. make freinds with others who make art, and share your in-progress work with each other frequently.

2. Learn to think of 1, rather than the Museum of Modern Art, as the destination of your work.

YOur desire to make art-beautiful or meaningful or emotive art- is integral to your sense of who you are. Life and Art, once entwined, can quickly become inseparable. (p.12-13)