Back when I was an aspiring writer, I had a hard time actually...well, writing. I was a perfectionist with low self esteem (still am) and that mentality definitely gets in the way of getting first draft pages done when the weasels of doubt come a-callin'.

These are a few of my diary (not blog!!) entries from back then. This was just prior to my taking writing seriously and getting some real work done as I fiddled with my first book (as yet unpubbed). If you'd told Michelle from the year 2000 t...