"Writer, who are you?"

"Who am I to think I can/have the right to/know enough to do/say/try this to that?" A New Year is upon us and what better time to change such thinking? 

"I don't think of myself as an 'author'." This was said by a writer with a book manuscript. Could I convince her that having an unpublished manuscript did allow her to see herself as an author? If she would not think it, then who would?

Here's another one: "I just write for myself." Unless we're talking about a diary, I don't buy that. Communicating is at the core of the writing life.

I plead guilty of having been shy about talking about my work. I avoided putting it out there. But, shyness was a ridiculous hindrance that had to be wrestled against. It's an ongoing exercise, to force away the doubts and the reluctance to go public. No one is forced to read it, so I write for those who want to.

We gotta get over it, as we say, to rebuff feelings of comparative ineptness. We have to get up again and again to ignore self-judgment that goes way too far. Otherwise, this pattern will continue to fog up constructive criticism that, by the way, always helps while it hurts.

The best way to kill this nonsense in a New Year is motivation to focus on the pleasures and initiative of the writing life. Writing is a creative adventure, and that's what we love! We gravitate to this as a beaver (they are inventive creatures, you know) lunges for its prey. So, like the beaver, we become more adept as we go public while we work.

I'm eager to go find some prey, some recurring or new thoughts and stories ready for seizing. You know we share a love of the grit and the enthusiasm! School's out for now. So...

Happy New Year! Celebrate! 

God continues to make all things new, beyond all that we can ask or think.