I Just Had the Weirdest Sensation....

....Like maybe I might be writing stuff that's good enough for other people to read.

Huh.

So this is confidence, eh? It's kind of.... I dunno.... Ookie.

I read an excerpt from a new book that is going to be released shortly by Tor. I won't say the author's name or the title of the book, but this is a previously published, fairly successful author. My reaction to the excerpt? "Eh, it's okay." Not "OMG I HAVE TO READ THIS BOOK THE DAY IT COMES OUT!!!!" Not, "I wouldn't read this book in a million years." Just -- well, ambivalence. The writing is fine. The plot is no dumber than my own -- which is reasonably dumb at face value. The author uses a lot of dialogue, and so do I, so that didn't turn me off. I just wasn't blown away by it.

Here's what I took from that: "If this writing is getting published -- if this is good enough to make a successful author -- then MY writing is good enough."

This is my happy thought for the day. I'm going to revisit my old cheerleading habits and follow in Jessica's footsteps now: "I love my CHARACTERS! I love my DIALOGUE! I love my whole BOOK! My whole book is GREAT! I can publish ANYTHING."

Whew. That should carry me through the weekend. Have a great one, y'all.