Self-Doubt, Surviving the Questions

Self-doubt and feeling about being a fraud. Yes, more words about naturist fiction are about to appear. As I prepare another post, I got to wondering just exactly why I was doing this? I mean, I am trying to teach about naturist fiction or about the art of writing? Am I expected by the reader to give some pithy reviews of naturist books already published? Is this more about filling up a space because of habit? Questions that don’t have answers and usually don’t get vocalised.

So what is the point of the questions? Well, most writers are not so self-assured as the characters in their books. It doesn’t seem to matter whether one is partway through one’s first book, or if she/he has dozens of published titles under their belt. There is often a feeling of being a fraud as a writer. I hear this often from writers in the Twittersverse – hashtag #writerscommunity.

So, this is a shared feeling of self-doubt, the feeling of not having what it takes to be a writer, about being a fraud who fills up virtual pages with words. Since I am old, very old [the ancient one here at Naturist Fiction], I have passed through these feeling of doubt and gone on to continue writing. Sometimes there are periods or drought. When I was younger I was certain I was a fraud and turned to teaching. You know the old expression, “Those that can, do; those that can’t, teach.”

Now that I am older than dirt, I know the truth. You can’t teach if you can’t “do.” To become a writer means we need teachers whether those teachers are virtual [other writers through their works] or face-to-face in classrooms from Kindergarten through post-graduate studies. Part of that truth continues to be learnt from younger writers who now ask the same questions as they remind me of the angst that I would suffer.

Listening to those writers who are just beginning the craft, I try to give a virtual hug that would tell them they will pass through this and all will be well. Writers will write.