Writing and self-confidence must go together

As everything, writing requires self-confidence. You feel great while doing it, but then comes the hardest part: selling it. To yourself. To your readers. And to a publisher. This takes some guts, and if you write, I am sure you know it. It's like being on that first audition on X-Factor, standing in front of the judges. No matter how good you are, you must gather all your wit and compose yourself in order to get the best tune out of your throat. But authors have it worse. When you sing, the worst that can happen is five minutes of humiliation. The written words may just stay with you forever. 

Sam Bailey, during her first audition. How amazing was she?

My personal experience is this: I write a lot, all the time, but I have not been sending my work to many publishers (mainly because I had no time, because I write a lot). I did a couple of runs in the past (it was the era of printed manuscripts then), but mostly got no reply. Except of one, coming from a science-fiction magazine. I sent them one of my horror stories and the guy returned a spiteful email, insulting both my writing and my person. I had this picture in my mind of a fat guy with scabs who hates women, writing to me to unload his frustration caused by his day job as a warehouse assistant - an unfulfilled fantasy author-wannabe...

Above: whoever criticises your work...

Then again, he may have been right. At least in some respect. So I took another critical look at my stuff and got it together. That is how you improve.

That one episode stayed with me, but didn't discourage me. It takes years to become truly good at anything, even if you have the talent. I still think I am a terrible writer with a good story. I bet many others who complete their books feel similar.

But whatever you do, you will be a subject of scrutiny. In your job, at your local club, building a soap box car, even, competing with other clever inventors. That's just how it is. And it is from experience that you learn, and from critique of others. Compliments are lovely, but it is the stuff that hurts that teaches you how to be better, motivating you.

Big Dog Cart

At the same time, maybe there's no need to worry about others' comments on your story. Some will like it, others won't. Perhaps the key here is to just do your thing, get it out there and take the criticism that's useful, with confidence. To believe is to succeed, as John White ("Qwerty: The History") says. We all should believe in ourselves; the world would be better for it.