Happy Friday Ya’ll!

I just have to say I’m loving todays male photo – Yummy giddy up cowboy! I’d like two of those to go please…..

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve noticed something about myself and because I’m aware of it, I’m noticing it in other people as well. I am constantly doubting myself.  Am I good writer?  Is this chapter good enough to show someone else? If I phrase something this way will it offend a reader?

All these questions and doubts looming over me, playing through my head constantly.  I want to be like Susan Powter and scream..”Stop the INSANITY”

Doubting yourself is a pretty selfish act if you think about it, who is it going to hurt if you believe in yourself and your writing?  If your ideas jump off the page and strangle you until you write them and someone says it not good, fine.  But in that moment, in that sweet ecstasy of being lost in your words it was sheer pleasure.  Sure there was pain,but it was the kind that only strengthened what was already great in your mind. If you hadn’t risked sharing or even writing your story, how would you know it’s not the next best seller?

Who cares if your character is too much like a Barbie doll – if that’s how you envision her than she’s perfect  Who cares if your grammar sucks and you’ve used 500 exclamation marks – if that’s what it takes for you to be the characters voice – so be it.  If you have no plot but excellent dialogue – well that’s fixable – but at least you have found the one thing in which you excel. I have written words that literately gave me shivers as I wrote, I have wept with my character in their darkest moments, the scene, in my mind, so perfectly constructed, yet I doubt anyone will enjoy it. If I can write something that moves me, then damnit I can move someone else.

Self doubt can inhibit us from sharing our gift with the world, but it can also make us stronger writers.  I recently rewrote the first 10 chapters of a work in progress. I was patting myself on the back as I read the first chapter – I was rocking it.  But later my character did something awkward and out-of-place, I had to pull back and wonder, eh is this right here?  Would it take my story to a place I don’t want to go?  I asked the big question – why would anyone read this?  I realized that I needed to trust my gut and tell it like I’d written it.  As it turns out that little hiccup became inspiration later down the road and my characters are on a completely different path.

Believe in yourself.  Believe in the gift of your craft.  Believe that one day your book will be published and your dreams are coming true.

I’m off my soap box for the day – tell me the positive things that have come out of doubting yourself and tell me your doubts so I can commiserate with you.

Toodles,

Michelle