Have a Little Faith

When you're wrestling with structure, or a passage, or a sentence or, heaven please be kind, a word, if you are anything like me you wonder why on earth you ever got involved in this stupid enterprise.

In the words of one of my favourite children's books, it is a "Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day".

On the other hand, when you find / dream / steal / hear / read / create / etc. just exactly what you meant all along, only better, then life is worth living again.  Or, at least, lunch is worth eating.

Paul Tillich said: "Doubt is not the opposite of faith; it is one element of faith."

So, in any creative process, doubt is not only possible, it is mandatory. On the minus side, doubt triggers a preoccupation with niggling issues that no one but another active writer can understand.  Why on earth are you so upset and depressed?  And, it helps explain why so many publishing deadlines are missed.  On the plus side, it leads to better, if not necessarily perfect, solutions.

If, like me, you are a new or renewing writer, you may very well have developed competence, even an enviable reputation in another field.  All that skill and distinction does not just flow over to writing.  It's new and it's hard. And on some days, it is loaded with joy.

So, have a little faith.  Keep going.  Avoid alcohol and drugs - these are not practical solutions.  Try not to drive your family and friends crazy.

Try.

Good luck with that.