Tuesday 31 May 2011

Finger-Freezing Fear

Other writers will probably know what I mean by this... those frequent moments when the self-belief-sapping gremlins creep into the room and then into your head and whisper in your ear (from the inside, obviously) that you are rubbish and are just kidding yourself IN A BIG WAY.  Mean, nasty little things - they deserve to be stamped on but it is just so easy to listen to their poisonous little voices.

I am sure I am not the only one who has read a published novel and thought "Golly gosh, how on earth did that get published?  I can jolly well do much better than that"?  But then you read back what you've written (I know, I know, DON'T DO IT!) and the gremlins tell you that:

a) you haven't done any better than the novel you scorned
b) you're a big-head and suffering from delusion if you happen to be pleased with what you've written.

Your fingers freeze on the keys in fear and your brain launches into a fast spin.

DO NOT LET THE GREMLINS WIN!  Envisage blowing them out of your nose (well, they are in your head) into a big hanky, scrunching it hard and stamping on it.  Imagine their pathetic little screams and the writhing inside the hanky.  Put it in the dustbin and clamp on the lid.

And also remember that if you don't try you will never know!

That's better - I'm off to take my own advice now!

2 comments:

Jenny said...

I never really have gremlin problems :/ Not that I'm a super star author, golly no, but having my weak points/problems pointed out to me never really gets me down. I remember getting a paper peer reviewed and it came back clean. I returned it and said I needed to see red ink.

That being said, for those with gremlin problems, I'll be glad you help you get rid of them ^_^

Rebecca Bradley said...

I worry that I just won't cut it, but my desire to complete the work I'm doing keeps me going. Also, the great online support networks writers are engaging it is a tremendous support. Kick those gremlins into touch!