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"I'm a lousy writer."
"I should just give up now."
"I'll never be published."
Every writer has experienced these nasty thoughts
at one time or another. My husband calls them
the doubt police. They invade your mind, arrest
all rational thought, lock up your creativity
in a musty cell, and throw away the rusty key.
I'm here to tell you that the doubt police can
be stopped.
"But I'm a lousy writer!" you wail.
Maybe you aren't a very good writer - right now.
But if you keep writing, you'll get better. I
guarantee it. As Stephen King says in On Writing,
"while it is impossible to make a competent
writer out of a bad writer, and while it is equally
impossible to make a great writer out of a good
one, it is possible, with lots of hard
work, dedication, and timely help, to make a good
writer out of a merely competent one." He's
right. Look back at the writing you did two years
ago and compare it to writing you did two months
or even two weeks ago. Notice how far you've come
as a writer. See? You can write your way
out of the "merely competent" category.
You might have a long way to go before you can
compete with Stephen King or Nora Roberts, yet
you should be inspired to continue.
"But I should just give up now!" you
protest. Don't give up yet. It's a cliché
but it's true: 100% of the books that don't get
written, don't get published. And even if you
never do become a good writer, you can still be
a successful published author. As Julia Cameron
points out in The Artist's Way, "all
too often, it is audacity and not talent that
moves an artist to center stage." You need
to have the audacity to tell the doubt police
to scram, then get back to your writing. So what
if it isn't perfect? It never will be - but it
can still be pretty damned good and find an appreciative
audience, if you keep at it and don't give
up.
"But I'll never be published!" you
insist. Louis L'Amour probably thought that, too,
when he received his first 349 rejections. According
to Chicken Soup for the Writer's Soul,
he made a sale on his 350th submission. Margaret
Mitchell's Gone with the Wind was rejected
over 25 times, Dr. Seuss' first book was rejected
27 times, and Robert Pirsig's Zen and the Art
of Motorcycle Maintenance was rejected 121
times. If you surrender to the doubt police and
stop writing now, you might be depriving the world
of a future literary classic - or at least a trashy
summertime bestseller.
When the doubt police show up, listen politely
to what they have to say, then send them on their
way. The best way to defeat them is just to keep
on writing
Top 5 Inspirational Books to Read When the Doubt
Police Appear
5. Writing Down the Bones, by Natalie
Goldberg
4. Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott
3. Writing and Selling Your Novel, by Jack
M. Bickham
2. On Writing, by Stephen King
1. The Artist's Way, by Julia Cameron
Bonus inspirational book (for those who can handle
some schmaltz with their inspiration): Chicken
Soup for the Writer's Soul
Sheri Radford is a member of GVC.
Articles may be reprinted in RWA® chapter
newsletters, attributed to the Spotlight.
Non-RWA® newsletters may not reprint articles
without the permission of the authors.
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