Nice Surprise

In the weeks since finishing latest draft of WIP I've been in a kind of doldrums.  It's a familiar pattern, but gets no easier to deal with.  By the time I limp over the finish line I am so drained and weary it's a relief to put it to bed, but with it comes the loss of confidence.  I'm not sure why this happens, or even if it happens to others as well as me.  It feels like everything I write is stilted and crap, every idea is contrived or cliche.  I feel like a complete fraud and wonder why I'm even trying.


But then a little time passes and for some reason I take a look at something I wrote and forgot about.  Last night I opened a piece I began during the summer, a couple of thousand words of an opening chapter.  I read it expecting nothing, so it was nice to find it wasn't half bad.  It drew me in.  It stirred me to want to imagine more.  It made me think, not with arrogance but astonishment,  'I really can do this'.


And this has happened time after time.  Just when I've written myself off as useless I get a nice surprise that keeps me going.  

Confidence

Still no news....

But, I found this great blog and had to post it here to pass it on.

As writers, confidence is so important simply because writing is such a solitary activity, (unless you co-write but that's a different story). I find my confidence can evaporate quicker than morning dew, especially here in Submission Hell. With so many "No's" coming at us, it's hard to keep our inner voice saying "Yes".

And I suspect the more sensitive you are as a writer the more of an issue this is. There are always loads of reasons not to do something - it takes courage above and beyond the call of duty to do it anyway.

So, writers everywhere - I salute you!