“Humble Pride”, you ask? That must be an oxymoron, or mis-typed Humble Pie.
Nope.
It’s the difference between arrogance and confidence, which are not the same thing. One may have (should have) pride and confidence in themselves and something they are good at, without consequently being arrogant or elitist about it.
The dream to become a writer infiltrates many. Perseverance in that dream, however, can be daunting.
Breaking into the publishing field is no small feat. But if someone else did it, so can I.
So can you.
I often think of the movie Ratatouille – Anyone can cook. However, to be very good at cooking, “one simply does not walk into” a kitchen and expect to be a master. Unless they are the Mozart of writing. Sure, they exist. But, even he had to learn music theory (and if he didn’t, I hate him). It takes practice, study, time, effort, research, tests, experiments, and dedication.
Sometimes, when I have to go back and fix the structure of a story, edit extensively, or I get particularly (in my view) daunting or harsh criticism of what I’ve written, that little devil on one shoulder tells me any number of things. This is too hard. I am not good enough. It’s impossible to get published. Why bother?
But, then I remind myself, a dream isn’t a dream if it just plops down into your lap, easy peasy, no work. That’s a cat.
Anyone can write. But, like anything worth doing, and doing well: it takes practice, study, time, effort, research, tests, experiments, and dedication.
For liquid courage, I like to make a stout cup of dark tea.
And, I always use one of my two favorite ‘writing’ tea cups, which both have little messages (see above) reminding me to keep at it.
Then I sit down to write.