In the distant past, I wrote a monthly byline for software development managers in a globally distributed set of technical trade magazines. I still remember the first time I submitted an article to my editor. The process of writing can be, as you know, an exercise in work, re-work, disposal, do over, rush to a deadline, double-latte with four shots, entering the B-state where the passage of time is indiscernable and finally snapping out of it and FTPing the content to the publisher for revie.

The editor I was working with was a very transparent fellow and very opinionated. So, I was expecting my article to be returned to me with a massive amount of red marks, corrections,edits, etc. It never happened. It passed through with virtually no remarks at all…other than kudos.

When I inquired of the editor, he mentioned how he liked what I wrote and how I wrote it. He also mentioned that it was nice to have at least one contributor whose work did not require massive edits and revisions.

I was glad (naw…if I’m honest…I was massively relieved) to hear that. But, it was not enough to overcome that baseline sense of self-doubt that I carried at the time…and still do, to some degree. I was still not convinced that I was capable of cranking that kind of content out on a routine basis.

The editorial review pattern repeated itself month after month. My submissions were received and published with minor modifications. Furthermore, readers were writing in response. I was actually beginning to shed some of my apprehension and accept, or at least get comfortable the fact, that I had something worth saying and that I was being successful in communicating.

Over time, this began to positively affect my confidence in writing. I began to write from a position of “self-trust”…that my style and perspective were distinctive enought at the time to merit my position. Writing had become a passion (so long as I had something to say) and passing through the gauntlet of doubt into the wild frontier of creative writing was a short but neessary season.

(As I look back, it’s not like this was the first manuscript I ever submitted. I have to give credit posthumously to Dr. LaRoche. He was my two-term grammar college professor who was brutal in his review of my writings…I hated it at the time, but I’m thankful for the legacy of his ongoing influence as it affects my writings even to this today.)

OK…so, my point is that self-doubt and anxiousness abate over time as your confidence grows through success and through learning to trust yourself and intuition through each creative process. Just as a seed is very vulnerable when it is first planted, so it is with your first works. But for that seed to take root, it requires the further vulnerability of splitting itself open in the soil and exposing itself to the environment. Only then does the seed begin to grow and transform itself into something that is viable and distinctive.

So, pardon me (as I am 20 years your elder) if I express a little paternalistic pride in your efforts. It takes courage to immerse yourself in your work and then open it up for scrutiny. It’s the pathway to growth and maturity as a writer and I applaud you for taking the risk in going there. I believe it to be a natural an essential step in your development as a writer. You’re well on your way!

I’m for you…