The Insecurity of Writing

I sat with my head in my hands thinking about what I was doing. I keep writing short stories and I have no idea if they are good or bad.

I met an academic and he told me that I had an ‘’instinctual’’ style of writing, but in terms of anything of substance, he hated to say it but I was ‘’lacking.’’

I talked with a woman of letters I respect and she went into a long lecture about making sure key elements were covered off in my stories. She said ‘’Alan, I’ve read your work, but there always seems to be continuity and a story arch missing. That’s not to say your writing is bad, but perhaps you should take a different approach. I would suggest you do a draft, leave it for a few days, come back and either rewrite it, or buff it up. The idea of just throwing it out there for the world to see could be counterproductive.’’

I sat down with an individual who is very honest, and read her a couple of my short stories. The first thing she said when I was done was ‘’What’s the point? Why are you writing these stories? Are you getting well compensated, because if you’re not I don’t think you should spend much time writing. Are you getting thousands of readers? I understand that it’s a hobby, but why do you get so caught up in it? Maybe you should leave the writing to professionals.’’ I have to admit the last shot was a blow to my ego.