To write one must persist

I have just finished reading, for the second time, an essay by Neil Gaiman entitled "All Books Have Genders." While it does somewhat address the question of the gender of specific books and short stories, the essay is actually a brief account of the writing of American Gods. It's inspiring in a practical sort of way, demonstrating that the only way to write a novel is to, well, sit down and write and write and write until you get to the end. It might be enough to encourage me to return to the novel I started in my attempt at National Novel Writing Month.