DOUBTS
You try to measure up to the standards set forth
by other bloggers. They write daily, working on several
pieces of fiction and making frequent posts for
their online readers to enjoy. You think that you are not as good
as them because you don’t write every day? That your skill with
social media, or lack thereof, disqualifies your talent
as a writer? You will not be the first successful
writer to have these same problems. Don’t let this stop you.
You think that a sheet of paper, handed out to thousands
of people who have less talent that you, makes you inferior
in comparison? I know too many people whose diploma has
gained them nothing more than a large debt to pay for ten years.
Your work history doesn’t scream writer, but how many of us
hold a different day job while we write? For most writing will
never become the career that can pay all the bills, but instead
it is the wonderful way we can escape from the pressure
of the world and plunge into something we enjoy. You enjoy writing,
it is obvious to those who talk to you and read your work.
You label yourself as a fraud, a fake. You claim you don’t belong
among the ranks of the bloggers and writers, but you will find
that we disagree with your opinion. You are as real as any of us
who are writing fiction on our blogs. You have found a niche
for your writing and you have developed a foundation
of readers who want you to continue. You are right that natural
writing talent will only take you so far. You also need to have
the desire to persevere in the face of obstacles like the one
you are battling now. The stubbornness to proclaim to the world
that you will become a successful writer even if there is no one
willing to agree.
You are a writer, even if you think you’re just faking.
Thank you, David. You and many others have been a light in my darkness.