I hear you.
Rather, I read you. And I understand.
You are doubting yourself. And you can’t seem to stop. You are in constant conflict, torn between your hunger to write and your fear that you aren’t good enough to do it.
Self-doubt is a crushing, sometimes seemingly inescapable force. The more you try to run from it, the harder it pursues you.
I’ve been there. I’m still there, some days.
And because of that, I’ve talked about self-doubt a lot on this blog — but did so long before any of you arrived. And because I’m not as good at time management as I’d like to believe I am, I haven’t gotten around to getting older posts organized enough for you to be able to find them easily.
So. Here’s everything you might have missed. I hope it helps.
The Real Reason People Doubt They Can Make Writing a Career
“I eventually ended up choosing my career in writing. No one forced it upon me. No one expected me to settle. I actively made the choice, independently of anyone else’s suggestions or opinions.”
Writers: Read This If You’ve Been Doubting Yourself Lately
“As ‘normal’ as it is to doubt yourself, that doesn’t make it okay. If any of the following things have been bothering you, or ever have before, it’s because we have all felt, and many of us still feel, doubtful.”
How to Crush Self-Doubt and Do All the Things That Scare You
“Overcoming your doubt, and doing what scares you anyway, is a major hurdle — but everything changes once you clear it.”
The Secret to Gaining More Confidence and Writing More Often
“I know, in those moments, it’s very easy to believe that every person who has ever told you writing was a waste of time, or not for you, or whatever variation you’ve heard, was actually right all along.”
Not Confident Enough to Keep Writing? Fake It.
“This isn’t just something you grow out of or overcome – you have to put actual effort into not letting it stop you from doing what you want to do.”
Meg is the creator of Novelty Revisions, dedicated to helping writers put their ideas into words. She is a staff writer with The Cheat Sheet, a freelance editor and writer, and a 10-time NaNoWriMo winner. Follow Meg on Twitter for tweets about writing, food and nerdy things.
Meg Dowell Writes 
This is a great post! I can totally relate to self-doubt . I want to write songs but it’s easier to be afraid of rejection than it is to be brave .
Hey. Just wanted to let you know that when you click on a link to one of your other posts, it takes me to the editing page for that particular post, rather then just to read it. I’m unsure as to what is causing it, but thought I’d give you a heads up. =)
THANK YOU SO MUCH. That is wild. It’s all fixed now – technology faillll.
The battlefield of the mind. If you can conquer it, you will soar. Something I deal with daily. Some days I win, and some days I lose :-)