I was recently reading a blog post about Aaron Patzer, found of Mint, and felt that the words he spoke about starting a business mirrored my own feelings about writing my first novel. Patzer said:
“(I) oscillated day to day between thinking “This is the greatest idea ever!” and “This will never work. Who am I to take on Intuit and Microsoft? If this was a good idea, someone would have done it before.” It’s very emotional, and I don’t think people ever tell you about that. You see your net worth quickly draining, you have no idea what’s going to happen next, and you’re sitting alone in a room with no help, no resources, just your brain and sheer will-power. When ever I got down, I would listen to “That’s Life” by Frank Sinatra, or think about a Shakespeare quote I liked as a kid: “Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we might oft win, by fearing to attempt.”
I think this is what most writers go through at some point and I think he’s got it right – when the doubts creep in, stay positive, pick yourself up and move on.