"I'm Not Good Enough!"

No doubt you've uttered this phrase at least once in 2019, and it's probably true.

There are always days, weeks and months when our output is not just below standard, it's dire. Our word counts are poor, we can't think of plots or how to extricate a character from a mess we've put them in. The problems build up to the point where we wish we'd followed our parents' advice and got a proper job.

Welcome to life as a writer.

For those of us who've been doing this for a few years (or decades) we may need a reminder that there are days when we eat cold porridge as penance for lack of work, weep at the words we wrote yesterday realising how bad they are.

If you're relatively new to it all, you need to know that these times happen.

It sucks. Bigly.

Just remember these times do pass and often when you least expect them to. You can be sitting all morning failing to write a coherent, sensible sentence, have a cup of tea, look out and see two car drivers arguing with each other (yes I've seen that from my front room window) and get a revelation. The rest of the day is highly productive as is the rest of the month.

Then it happens again.

To paraphrase the song, it's the circle of writing.

Ups and downs happen. They're not the end of the world, nor the start of a lifetime of consistent productivity. The river of creativity has bumps, flows, waterfalls, dead ends and parts where it runs underground in darkness.

You may not be good enough at this moment, but you will be. Rest, accept it and move on.

It's not a failure, it's a temporary stop enabling you to admire the view.