From RG: “Do I have what it takes to be a writer?”
“I’m a college sophomore. I’ve been reading your blog for about a year now, and I’ve read two of your books (Great Leads and The Power of Persuasion). I like the way you write. Whatever the topic, you make your ideas and opinions easy to understand. It feels like writing comes easily for you. I want to be a professional writer someday, but I’m just starting out and worry sometimes that I just don’t have the talent. I wonder if you ever felt that way.”
My Response: The answer is yes. More importantly, many writers, much better than I, have had the same doubts. Here’s a sampling, from Letters of Note, that might give you hope:
“I am very poorly today & very stupid & hate everybody & everything.” – Charles Darwin, letter to Charles Lyell, Oct. 1, 1861
“No one really takes very much interest, why should they, in my scribblings. Do you think I shall ever write a really good book?” – Virginia Woolf, letter to Violet Dickinson, Oct. 1, 1905
“My god it is hard for anybody to write. I never start a damn thing without knowing 200 times I can’t write – never will be able to write a line – can’t go on – can’t get started – stuff is rotten – can’t say what I mean – know there is a whole fine complete thing and all I get of it is the bacon rinds. You would write better than anybody but the minute it becomes impossible you stop. That is the time you have to go on through and then it gets easier. It always gets utterly and completely impossible. Thank God it does – otherwise everybody would write and I would starve to death.” – Ernest Hemingway, letter to Waldo Pierce, Oct. 1, 1928
