Camp Pep: Emerging from Doubt

Camp NaNoWriMo is nothing without you, our incredible participants. Today, Sarra Cannon, bestselling author and Camp participant, tells us why doubt is just a part of the writing process:

Let me tell you a story. A true one. Tell me if you recognize it.

The other day, I walked into my bedroom and collapsed on top of the bed, ignoring the heaps of folded clothes that covered its surface. “I give up,” I said.

“Let me guess,” my husband said. “This is the worst book you’ve ever written in your life.”

I sat up and frowned. How did he know what I was going to say? “Yes. This book sucks. I mean, it completely sucks. I hate every word. I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

Instead of hugging me and telling me it was going to be okay, my husband smiled and folded another shirt.

“What?” I asked, crossing my arms like a petulant child. “Why are you smiling?”

He looked up, his eyes full of love and understanding. “Because you do this every single time,” he said.

“I do?” I shook my head, not believing him.

“Every single project. You hit the middle, the writing gets harder, and you convince yourself you’re the worst writer of all time,” he said. “And every time you push through and realize you were wrong.”

“But what if it’s really true this time?” I asked, tears in my eyes. “What if it’s really terrible?”

He smiled again, the way only someone who’s lived with a writer for a decade can. “You say that every time, too,” he said. “And it’s never been true. Your book doesn’t suck. Everything is going to be okay. Just keep writing.”

This has become a cycle in my writing. It’s a part of my process, and I’ve come to trust it. My husband’s words have become my mantra, and I repeat them to myself when I hit a rough patch.

Your book doesn’t suck. Everything is going to be okay. Just keep writing.

No matter what you’re working on for Camp this year, you’re bound to hit a point somewhere in the middle of the whole thing where you start to doubt yourself. You may doubt your voice or your vision or your talent. You may doubt whether you have any business writing at all, and the only thing you want to do is bury your head in a stack of clean laundry and declare yourself the Worst. Writer. Ever.

If you’re like me and you’re hitting that point right about now, keep going. Don’t believe those voices of doubt that tell you you can’t do this or that you suck. Trust me. Doubt is part of the process. It’s like some mythical swamp of no hope we all must trudge through in order to get to the end.

The end always comes for me as this shining moment of triumph, my body covered in mud and my eyes lifted toward the sun. And my husband is inevitably right. The book is never as bad as I thought it would be. Some parts are even pretty darn good. I just couldn’t see it when I was in the thick of it.

If you’re going through the swamp right now and can’t see a way out, just keep slogging through, one foot in front of the other. Be the worst writer ever if you need to be. It doesn’t matter as long as there are words on that page. Trust me on this one.

Your book doesn’t suck.
Everything is going to be okay.
Just keep writing.

Sarra Cannon writes contemporary and paranormal fiction. Her novels often stem from her own experiences growing up in the small town of Hawkinsville, Georgia, where she learned that being popular always comes at a price and relationships are rarely as simple as they seem.  Her bestselling Young Adult fantasy series, The Shadow Demons Saga, has sold over a quarter of a million copies. Sarra lives in South Carolina with her adorable son and devoted husband.

Top photo by Flickr user H. O’Malley.