5 of my writerly confessions

Are you like this?

Not sure where March has gone (the 100+ literary award entries in the corner of my bedroom have a fair idea . . . ) but with my end-of-month “nutshell” coming up, and two March posts you may have missed in the past few weeks (Judge Dread and Minis #5: Surviving Tiny Arrows), I decided to be frivolous and compile a short list of traits I’ve observed in myself over the course of my writing career.

“One of the odd things about being a writer is that you never reach a point of certainty, a point of mastery where you can say, Right. Now I understand how this is done.” Jenny Offill

1. I’m guaranteed to commence a period of extreme self-doubt immediately after a spot of writerly euphoria: the day after an editor praises my latest draft, moments after signing a new contract, mere seconds after being shortlisted for an award — there I’ll be, building myself a dysfunctional cubby-house of rabid negativity. It’s funny (wrong word) to realise that I’ve enough self-belief to do the thing but not enoug…