The Worst Author in the World
No, OF COURSE it’s not you!
Creative writers are the most insecure people on the planet, hands down. (Except for every other creative person, but we’re talking about writers here.)
Unless we’re total narcissists who love every little thing about ourselves, we’re going to hate 96.4 percent of everything we put out there. Maybe not today (because how would we produce anything if we hated it today?) but some day.
There’s a reason for that. It’s because everything we write comes from us. We invent it, we design it, we manufacture it, and once it’s out there, we live with it. It’s wholly, totally ours.
That’s scary! Sometimes it’s so scary we quit. Well, some people quit. You don’t. But admit it — you think about it sometimes. Because creating amazing prose from scratch is hard. And if nobody reads it, it counts for nothing. If nobody reads it you’re crushed. Crushed.
But never mind. I’m going to make you feel better.
I’m going to tell you about the worst author in the world. Bar none. No contest. The worst of the worst.
Her name is Amanda McKittrick Ros. She was born in Northern Ireland in 1860 and died in 1939. Think about how long ago that was. And we’re still talking about her. (She predicted once that she would still be…
