Today I’m feeling a little bit like Neil Gaiman in his National Novel Writing Month pep talk:

“You don’t know why you started your novel, you no longer remember why you imagined that anyone would want to read it, and you’re pretty sure that even if you finish it it won’t have been worth the time or energy and every time you stop long enough to compare it to the thing that you had in your head when you began—a glittering, brilliant, wonderful novel, in which every word spits fire and burns, a book as good or better than the best book you ever read—it falls so painfully short that you’re pretty sure that it would be a mercy simply to delete the whole thing.”

Neil’s words may not seem inspiring, yet knowing that an author I admire has felt the same way is comforting in a perverse sort of way. The rest of Neil’s pep talk, linked above, is well worth reading for anyone needing inspiration for a creative effort.

Find pep talks by other fantastic writers here.

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