The end was not as hard as I thought it would be

 I never fooled myself

When I began to write short stories I told my friends that it would not pay, that was over 13 years ago, and though they tried to convince me otherwise I knew I was right from the beginning.

I had two big disadvatages against me.

I live in the UK, not USA, and I had no money to pay for publicity. 

I had lots of people telling me how good I used to be as a writer, but was that the truth or a lie to keep me going in the misbelief that after 10 years, as I was told many times, I would see some success?

The years passed, and the success never came close to happening. Long before I stopped writing I knew I'd never be a success, one reason was I never chased trends as many authors did, I realize now that trying to be recognized as my own voice, not a copy was a tragic error of judgement.