To be a writer is to be an optimist. Only an optimist would spend years hunched over a keyboard, spilling their souls onto the page, shunning friends and family for long stretches, with absolutely no guarantee anyone will ever like their story—assuming it even gets finished. Heck, I’m not sure optimism is even the proper word. Perhaps delusional is a better choice. Either way, we writers are blessed with an almost amazing ability to ignore reality for long periods of time.
In between those periods of optimism, however, writers often find themselves deep in the abyss of pessimism. At least I know I do. Times when we’re convinced there’s no way anyone will like our story and, no matter how hard we try, no matter how much we study the craft, no matter how many gallons of ink we spill, nothing is ever going to change that simple fact. Those times when it seems the only reason we still write is because it’s the only way to purge that story that’s stuck inside our heads, screaming to be let out.
Hmmm… Maybe I should have saved these thoughts for the next Insecure Writers Support Group post.
Is your Optimist/Pessimist ratio greater than, equal to, or less than 1?
ChemistKen
