The Worst Enemy to Creativity

"The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt." ~ Sylvia Plath.

Hi, guys.

I read this inspiring post Sunday and wanted to share. It's called What If Your Biggest Naysayer Is Yourself?

This is a huge struggle for me personally. Internally, I am always dealing with these kinds of thoughts while I'm writing or editing a book. They're the kind that say what I write will never be good enough... The kind that kind that tell me I'm going to fail... The kind that tell me to quit now while I'm ahead.

They are insidious and hurtful and they kill my creativity, like Ms. Plath points out above. That quote of hers has always resonated with me deeply... maybe I should frame it and stick in on the wall above my desk.

Self-doubt. Fear. Sense of worthlessness.

In 2012, I'm not going to let those thoughts stop me from writing.

Does anybody else have an inner critic like mine?

Stuff That Makes Me Cry

Lately I've been reading lots of inspiring writing stories and they've been making me cry (yes, I wept while reading the part in On Writing by Stephen King where they're broke and then he sells Carrie for $400,000).

This keynote speech by Sherrilyn Kenyon was no exception.

I'm not sure why I've been so emotional lately. Perhaps it's just life events--I've had a lot of things happen to me in the last few weeks that were hard (but good), things that made me confront my own neuroses and face my fears. I'm in a good place right now, but I'm also feeling a little raw about it all. But at the same time, I've never felt so empowered.

It's a good feeling.

In other news, the super secret book is coming along well. I ended up rewriting about half of it, and I'm making great progress. I'm hoping to start showing covers and blurbs and such in a few weeks. (!!!)