And it's delicious.

Today, I love this post and the following comment thread. Kate, who is an amazing writer at sweetsalty, wrote about her feelings of inadequacy as a writer, especially in the face of two more widely accomplished and acclaimed writers.

I scroll and scroll and scroll. I note the word pussy used three times, once with capitals and exclamation marks. I get points for avoiding the word 'awesomesauce' but I lose points for almost throwing up on the side of a highway. I see rants and despair and I see that I'm much less resolved than I thought I was. Then I see the Humpty Dance. There is a no-fault clause for the writing about Liam but the rest is an increasingly directionless knee-jerk, a counterpoint. I write occasional darkness. Then I write hot pink with watermelon-scented glitter so that you don't turn away. But it's cheap tricks, all of it. Happy clown / sad clown. Either way, I wear bright green shoes and I can't look a Giller Prize nominee in the stars.

She asks her readers for advice, stories, perspectives:

...tell me about a humbling moment in your writing, art, sports, life. Anything. Tell me how you managed to leave the hotel room and fake it, so to speak, despite that crushing humility. And tell me what happened after that. I'd really like to know.

Her commenters are just so wise. A few of my favorite responses:

Mr Lady said: How did I manage to leave the room? I decided it was high time to find out what would happen if I did, instead of just resenting what has happened because I didn't. What came next? Contentment, laced with a fear. And it's delicious.

kyran said: I'll just say that it helps to remember whom you serve as a writer, whose attention and respect is worth your sweat. Hint: it's not other writers.

kate said this:When I feel that way, I try to come back to learning. It's hard to ignore the feelings of fraudulence and inadequacy, but I just keep challenging myself, "What can I learn from this experience? What can this person teach me?"

She also said this:I'm a firm believer that being uncomfortable is good because it means you're charting new territory and pushing your boundaries... So when I feel uncomfortable, I just remind myself that it means I'm moving forward.

Mariellen Romer said:This is how I live the creativity of my words and pictures. I hold on tightly to the idea of an abundance mentality, another idea that Kyran talks about on a regular basis; that there is space and room, need and meaning in the world for what each of us creates, in the myriad ways we all create it. I keep talking to myself and I reach out to others, and somehow it all works when I step back, and let myself look at it in the round.

Seriously, it's all worth at least a good browsing. Go check it out.