Keep going
I've seen plenty of bloggers participating in #Blaugust this month fall into some self-doubt lately. I'm not surprised; a post every day, for a month, is a lot of writing. Even if you don't get tired of writing itself, you're bound to pick up on your tics and habits and compare what you're doing to other people as you read their stuff.
I get it, completely. I think the same thing all the time. Usually it's along the lines of, "I wish people would recommend my writing like they recommend xyz". It's the same thing. Everybody always thinks there's somebody better. While I didn't pick out a lot of things from The Creative Act, that feeling creatives have is one of the biggest undercurrents through the whole manifesto.
I'll be honest - often when I fall into a writing lull it's because I feel inadequate as a writer. Either I feel like nobody reads what I'm writing, or I feel like my writing's not good enough. Either way it's the same feeling at the core.
I'm never going to not feel inadequate about my writing. I would love to write a regular...something (I don't know what) and have a bunch of readers/followers who think I write good1. At the same time, I don't feel confident enough in what I write to put my stuff out there. I don't submit anything anywhere. I don't have a portfolio (beyond my blogs).
In many ways it feels like I've given up on this writing dream. And yet I keep going with these blog posts, because I don't know what else to do. I'm still only 41 years old. I'm not going for a career change but I can still write a good many things and attempt to feel satisfied.
So for any of my blogging friends who are feeling self doubt and thinking about calling it quits (even temporarily), keep going.
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