Already Itching To Write?

I have to be philosophical about this whole writing pursuit. I need to moderate my expectations, face the fact that no one is interested in my work and remind myself why I'm doing it in the first place.

Every author wants to be read. I was so thrilled to find my first ever review. I only found it by accident. I'd published three novels before I wrote that novella, and they'd seen no sales, so I simply accepted that something about them wasn't appealing to potential buyers. It honestly didn't bother me. They'd already been rejected by literary agents, so I "knew" they couldn't be good. (The third one is, though. And the first isn't bad.) I resigned myself to the fact that I couldn't write, and only embarked on my fourth work to have something to do. 

Finding that review, in hindsight, probably hurt me psychically more than it helped. On the one hand, I was thrilled that someone had read it and liked it. On the other, I naturally wanted to get more recognition. But the next and the next and the next and the next (four ~ count 'em) didn't sell at all, or perhaps sold one copy in total. Ironically, my writing was constantly improving. I wanted to prove that I was worth reading, and so for the sixth I dabbled in a bit of promotion. And subsequently I grew more and more disillusioned. Sure, I got a couple of reviews here and there, but my sales sucked, and I knew if I just worked harder at marketing people would begin buying and word of mouth would take over. With the next novella I went all out (as much as my tiny budget allowed) and it kind of worked. Sales were still negligible, but my reviews were almost exclusively great.

So, with my current book, of which I am proudest, dammit, people needed to read it! For the first time I shelled out money for a couple of things I never had before. This would do it.  

"This" didn't. I had more success when I only took advantage of free or almost-free promo sites. 

So, bottom line, I'm not going to sell.

Then why am I already itching to write again? Bottom line, as frustrating as spilling out a story can be, I like doing it. I like the challenge. I like proving to myself that I'm able to do more than I thought I could. I like surprising myself with a story's twists and turns. 

So, Inn Dreams is going nowhere, but neither am I. Soon I'll embark on another story, and it'll just be my little secret.