Writing Through Self-Doubt

It’s been a while since I’ve written a blog post, mostly because I’ve been tangled up in self-doubt—convinced I didn’t have anything worth saying.  But the greatest thing about being a writer is that the only qualification that truly matters is writing. If only I could feel that way all the time. 

I’ve found myself stuck in a writing slump recently. However, I decided to pull myself up by my bootstraps, hunker down, and just write something. Anything. So, what did I do? I went looking for writing prompts, ones with themes, so I didn’t have to be as creative with the thinking process. I wanted something small, manageable, something that didn’t require me to reinvent the wheel. I wrote a flash fiction horror story. I haven’t had much experience writing flash fiction at all, and to be frank, any short story I have ever written was well over 5k words. Not very short, if you think about it. But the point is, I did something outside my comfort zone, and it paid off. I submitted my short story to an online lit magazine for short horror fiction, and to my shock, they accepted it. I will be published on December 1^st. My first flash fiction publication ever. To be honest, I still can’t believe they liked it. I’m thrilled.

My point in sharing this is that writing doesn’t have to be difficult or carry grand, profound meaning. Sometimes it just needs to exist, and sometimes that alone is enough to open the door to something you didn't expect. In the meantime, if you are in the mood for something spooky, go check out https://www.flashphantoms.net. They will be sharing my short story in December!

—Destany