All week I have been working on my latest novel. And in the beginning, I was cruising along. You know, blank page euphoria is a wonderful thing. Unfortunately, I’m in the early stages of what I call – the doubt phase. Even though I know where the story is going and I know I have a solid plot, I find myself listening to doubts.

Like:

• This story is dumb. Who will want to read it?
• There are so many other things I should have/could have done. 
• I must be missing something like (fill in the blank).
• This story is so weird no one will buy it.

On and on it goes. The greedy Doubt Monster messing with my head and my confidence.

I know why this is happening. Because I’m not staying in the creative mind. I’m letting that inner critic sneak in. The Editor is not allowed to make an appearance until after the whole darn thing is done. At this stage in writing, I should not be thinking about the reader, the marketplace or much of anything else real world related.

It’s right about now, I need a smack to the head. Or a reminder that there are people waiting to read this story (thank you, my precious First Reader – you know who you are).

The Doubt Monster rears his ugly head (yes, I believe it’s a him – no clue why, honest) at various times in the writing process. Sometimes, he dogs me the whole way. Other times, he appears sporadically. Rarely, if I’m lucky, he won’t show up until I’m almost done.

Of course, I totally blame myself for the Doubt Monster. He exists because I allow him to. So really, I’m just fighting with myself. Silly, I know. The best way to battle the annoying pest is to ignore him and keep writing.

I wish there was a more magical answer. But like all things, if you want something bad enough, you have to push through the tough times and keep going!