MEL DONALSON: It can be a bit daunting. It can create quite a bit of anxiety as a new writer to sort of have a sense of, am I talented enough? Am I good enough? Am I doing something that's worthwhile? And basically, at that point in one's writing career, there's a need for having those people you can trust, trust to be honest, and be prepared as a young writer to maybe hear some things you don't want to hear about your writing and how it's not reaching or how it's not inspiring or how it's not engaging that person, but to learn how to use that as a way of revising what you've done.
I think as you grow older in your writing, as you mature in your writing, you begin to understand that you don't necessarily need an external source, someone else to validate what you're doing. You reach a point, where you realize that in some ways, you're not auditioning your talent. Now certainly, when you submit material to a publication, that's a kind of auditioning, because they're going to look at what they feel may be the quality of that work for their particular publication. It may not be what they're looking for, but that doesn't mean that you don't have talent, that you're not a writer. It just means that particular piece is not the one for that particular publication.
And so you have to sort of learn how to realize that writing is not trying to be perfect, where somehow you are pleasing and fulfilling everyone. It's not about perfection. There's no such thing as perfection. It's about excellence, and if you hold up a certain kind of criteria for yourself in terms of excellence, so by the time you get to what might be that final draft, which could take months or years to arrive at that point, you know it. You know that you've done something where you've fulfilled some goals that you had for that piece.
So at the beginning, trying to find those voices that are supportive, try to find those individuals who will be honest, and then as you move along in your writing experience, begin to trust yourself and believe in yourself. And that's probably the best barometer that you'll have in terms of how to move forward with your writing.