Filling in the gaps

I haven't done much writing today. But it's only 11 p.m. and I have another two hours. Maybe three.

The time I did spend writing, I worked on providing more details in an earlier section of my rough draft of Silence. And I noticed something. Not for the first time.

What I wrote today sounds stilted to me, and rough. I'm sure some of it is. But what always amazes me is that when I go back to read what I wrote previously, some of it sounds very good.

I'm not the only writer with this experience. I think it's common.

I'm come to the conclusion that we writers are our own worst enemies. We worry so much about what people will think that we tear apart our own work and sometimes don't show it to the public at all. We fear rejection. We're convinced everyone else writers better.

A little humility is a good thing. But I believe writers are, in general, an insecure lot. That's why we sometimes experience wrter's block. And that's why some writers never allow their works to be seen.

Doubting your work is normal. It probably isn't as good as it could be--not if it's a first draft, anyway--but it's yours. And you can keep working on it, polishing it, until it is very, very good.