Feeling down...and being lifted up

I was reading the second chapter of a friend's WIP and got so caught up in the story that I wanted to cry when there was no more to read. Her writing is so good, even in rough draft stage. I then went back to work on my own WIP and wanted to cry for an entirely different reason. I started comparing my work to hers and I just knew for sure that my work comes nowhere close to measuring up. I felt like a hack; someone pretending to be a writer; someone with no real possibility of being published...ever. This made me sad because writing is one of the only dreams I have left. I know this feeling down on myself has a lot to do with some of the junk that's going on in my life right now- I'm blue, worried, scared for my son. It all adds up to a bit of depression.

So, I expressed my feelings to my critique group and was rewarded with an only partially joking threat to turn Chauncy the Chainsaw on me, as well as encouragement and love that I knew I could find there. They are such wonderful people and when I'm feeling low and bad about my abilities, I know I can always count on them to make me laugh and feel better.

Having good friends in life in general is so important but I've come to realize that if I didn't have fellow writers as friends, these fellow writers specifically, I would probably put down my pen forever and not even try to follow my dream of being a published writer. If you don't have any writer friends to cheer you on, do yourself a favor and find some. You'll be amazed by how wonderful it is to know there are people out there willing to hold a chainsaw to your back as you run toward your dreams!