I came upon this quote in the excellent Writers’ Services newsletter:
‘It does no harm to repeat as often as you can “Without me the literary industry would not exist: the publishers, the agents, the sub-agents, the sub-sub agents, the accountants, the libel lawyers, the departments of literature, the professors, the theses, the books of criticism, the reviewers, the book pages – all this vast and proliferating edifice is because of this small, patronised, put-down and underpaid person.”‘
So, don’t undervalue yourself. Doubt should not make an end of you. It’s only proof that you want to write the best story possible.
Writers are often quiet and self-effacing people, but to succeed these days we have to sell ourselves. There’s no escaping that. It takes effort and self-belief (and probably a website, a blog and social media ‘friends’ and followers).
At the core of it all is the writing. If you believe in that, then maybe people of influence will too, those who feed off your talent to keep publishing running.
Rachel Carson put it well:
If you write what you yourself sincerely think and feel and are interested in, the chances are very high that you will interest other people as well.
