Neil Gaiman – Even the Pros Have Doubts

I found today’s blog post by Neil Gaiman heartening, as it shows that even “Rock Star writers” have self-doubts about their writing and geek out when they manage to overcome these roadblocks. Below is his post, but be sure to check out his blog as well. By the way, I don’t think I have mentioned this week how much I’m enjoying Good Omens.

In 1985 or 1986, watching my son Mike wheel his tricycle around the graveyard next door to our house that we used because we didn’t have a garden, I thought of an idea for a story about a small boy who wandered into a graveyard and was raised by dead people. Then, deciding I wasn’t a good enough writer, I didn’t write it.

Over the years I’d pick up a scrap of paper and try to write a scene from near the beginning, conclude I wasn’t good enough yet, and put it aside.

Recently I came to the conclusion that I wasn’t getting any better. So I wrote a short story called “The Witch’s Headstone”, which will probably be chapter 4 or 5 of the book.

And today I finished writing Chapter One of The Graveyard Book, and it’s a real book. I know it’s a real book because there are all sorts of things I don’t quite know yet, and I can’t wait to find them out.

Happiness.