on Jane Friedman site:

Generally speaking, writers have an unlimited appetite for discussing writing. The craft itself, of course, but also contracts, marketing and publicity, agent-shopping, advances and royalties, finding trusted beta readers, and so forth. Put half a dozen writers together in a room and hours later, they’re still going at it, with plenty left to say as long as the drinks and snacks hold out.

But one topic we don’t discuss nearly enough in my view is the role that grit plays in predicting and shaping who will succeed as a career author (that is, become happily and serially published) and who will walk away from it all, possibly heartbroken and defeated, or at least having decided there are better and certainly more lucrative ways to suffer.

Our species would never have gotten this far without a large dose of raw grit, which we can thank for enabling us to solve problems (hunting woolly mammoths, heating frigid caves) and to persevere in the face of daunting odds (draught, floods, war, famine).