Reader, sometimes, well most of the time really, I don’t feel like I can do justice to my story ideas. I think of a great idea, it’s usually just a snippet, and then my mind takes hold and adds bits, moulds and hammers away at the raw material until I become afraid to actually attempt the writing.
Once I begin to actually write, if I don’t allow my analytical mind too much air time, it’s not such a problem. For me the space and time between an idea and getting it onto paper is the danger zone. I become afraid of the idea, of getting it right. Can I do the story justice, will I bring it to life or inadvertently suffocate it in my attempt to breath life into it?
Is it really supposed to be this darn hard?
When I tell someone or write down a brief snapshot of what a story is about, I get so excited, so keen to jump behind the keyboard and get going. If I’m not able to get stuck straight in, for various good reasons, that’s when the doubt creatures start to infiltrate. Worming their nasty little way in, seizing my thoughts, planting seeds of doubts and making accusations.
“You can’t do this!” “You will never bring this idea to life.” “You should give up this writing and stick to being bad at bookkeeping.” “A writer you are not! ”
OK, we all know these creatures of confidence destruction. Everyone has doubts, whether they are writers or not. Do we listen and give up, ignore and blunder on, or determine to beat them at their own game.
I think I may go with the last 🙂
Yesterday I attended the National Novel Writing Month Kick Off Party at King Edward Park Newcastle. This has got me fired up and ready for NaNoWriMo kick off on November One. I met some awesome local writers and here are a couple of pics from the day.
King Edward Park Newcastle, on a bit of a lean 🙂 I took the photos on my iPhone.
Jo and Brooke, our Newcastle Municipal Liaison Dudes, and Jim in the centre, it was a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
paulabeavan 
Paula, we all go through this crisis of confidence. The great thing about Nano is it doesn’t give you a chance to be terrified. 50,000 words in a month sounds daunting, but it’s fairly easy to get through if you write every day.
50K is just about the first third of a novel for me. it’s that 2nd 50k words that become my crisis point. The dreaded Muddle in the Middle. When I go back and edit, I find it’s not really so bad. I always have to fix the beginning (those first 50,000 words) but the second and third 50,000 are okay.
So, trust yourself and your muse. I do.