When you don't think you can continue...

[Robin]

Wow!!! I feel like a heel. I haven't been very active on the forum recently because I had a serious case of self doubt :(
Okay, to tell the truth, it was more like a major pity party. Complete with balloons, presents, streamer, and cupcakes (not low carb ones either). The doubt was so loud, I decided to stop writing for a few years. It got so bad I couldn't bring myself to open a word document...

Until I got a little PM from my forum buddy (Down the Well). My page was critiqued todayviewtopic.php?f=19&t=2671 by the amazing Nathan Bransford and HE ACTUALLY LIKED IT!!!! Wow!!! Other people liked it as well. (double WOW!!!).

I guess I just wanted to encourage you. I was about to quit and now I have a renewed sense of confidence. (oh, manuscript... here I come!)

Thanks again!!!!

Hugs!!!!!

[Down the well]

I was about to quit and now I have a renewed sense of confidence. (oh, manuscript... here I come!)

I think we've all been there. Glad you're back. Now get to work!

[Margo]

Glad you didn't quit, even if you put it down for awhile.

[dios4vida]

Welcome back! There's nothing like a renewed sense of energy and appreciation of your writing to spark the "I have to WRITE" bug inside us. I'm very happy for you!!!

It's good to see you back on the forums. Now get back to work!! :-P

[J. T. SHEA]

Congratulations on a great opening page, Robin! But if there were going to be high carb cupcakes, I think you should have the pity party anyway. And invite me. Particularly if they're CHOCOLATE high carb cupcakes.

[Steppe]

Kinda ironic that a seed you sewed should create a tree that is struck by lightning and burns brightly in the wilderness at the moment you thought you would freeze to death. To feel sad for the tree and angry at the rainy chilly sky and secretly grateful to the lightning all at once is a very normal set of mixed feelings. Your piece was compelling. If your sure it won't sell and not worried about thievery I'm sure you could find readers here.


A Tree Grows In Brooklyn - Betty Smith - Autobiography


"Let me be something every minute of every hour of my life. Let me be gay; let me be sad. Let me be cold; let me be warm. Let me be hungry...have too much to eat. Let me be ragged or well dressed. Let me be sincere-be deceitful. Let me be truthful; let me be a liar. Let me be honorable and let me sin. Only let me be something every blessed minute. And when I sleep, let me dream all the time so that not one little piece of living is ever lost."
- Ch. 48

"But, then, so many things seemed like dreams to her. That man in the hallway that day: Surely that had been a dream! The way McShane had been waiting for mother all those years - a dream. Papa dead. For a long time that had been a dream but now papa was like someone who had never been. The way Laurie seemed to come out of a dream - born the living child of a father five months dead. Brooklyn was a dream. All the things that happened there just couldn't happen. It was all dream stuff. Or was it all real and true and was it that she, Francie, was the dreamer?"
- Ch. 55

"A new tree had grown from the stump and its trunk had grown along the ground until it reached a place where there were no wash lines above it. Then it had started to grow towards the sky again. Annie, the fir tree, that the Nolans had cherished with waterings and manurings, had long since sickened and died. But this tree in the yard--this tree that men chopped down...this tree that they built a bonfire around, trying to burn up its stump--this tree had lived!"
- Ch. 56


Betty Smith - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Autobiography

[Mira]

Robin - I noticed that you were absent and missed you! I'm so sorry you went through such a hard time. It's sort of scary that you almost quit.

I understand, though - I get discouraged so easily. It's very easy for me to believe that I have nothing to offer, and even if folks convince me otherwise, that confidence can fade quickly. Some of us are very sensitive, and easily doubt ourselves.

I don't know if this helps, or if you see things this way, but I think that what happened to you on Friday was even better than other people and Nathan liking your work.

This is spiritual, so please ignore it if you don't think of things this way. But if it was me, and I was about to quit, and my page was selected out of over 500 entries, and the agent (who is very honest in his critiques) found very little to critique - I would feel like I was being sent a very clear message that I was supposed to write. I think, Robin, the Universe wants you to write. :)

It's good to have you back! :)

[Claudie]

I think, Robin, the Universe wants you to write. :)

The Universe has taste. ;)