It sounds like a disease, doesn’t it? “Stages”. Yet, lurking in places that authors gather like abandoned bookstores and Tumblr, I’ve noticed three common struggles that absolutely devastate authors.

And here they are.

 

STAGE ONE:

Self-doubt.

Am I good enough? My writing is so childish. But that author was famous when they were only twelve. Why can’t I be like them? Nobody will ever like my work.

It’s the same paranoia that drives all authors and artists, believing that their work is mediocre in comparison to the work of their contemporaries.