BELIEVING IN OURSELVES
Humility about your work is a virtue. Circle your answer: True False
My dictionary says to be humble is to offer submission, to be insignificant, unpretentious. To humble someone is (by one definition) to “destroy the power, independence or prestige of.”
Humility is defined as “the quality or state of being humble” and next to it is “humiliate,” which, I imagine, you can define for yourself.
So–is humility a virtue? Most of us, including me, would have circled “True” without giving it much thought.
Would you do so now?
Hmmm. If the answer is still “True,” then think about this: If we don’t value our own work, then why do we do it? To have a job that isn’t too difficult? To make money? Or, simply, to keep busy?
On the other hand, I hope many of us will admit we like our work, and are proud of it. Those of us who are writers may confess, “I enjoy creating stories, “ “I love the power of language,” “I love using my imagination to make new worlds,” or “I like helping people by doing research and sharing facts.” (Or . . . . . . you fill in the blank.)
It’s amazing to me how many times I read some version of “I enjoy promoting others’ writing but not my own,” or, “It seems pushy for me to talk about my own work too much, ” or even, “I don’t want my name on the book cover to be that large.”
Come on! Isn’t it okay to be proud of what we create? There’s a lot of hard work in any job or profession, and much of the time those notengaged in an active writing career haven’t a clue that writing is hard work–which detracts from their appreciation of what the writer has accomplished. If you’ve been writing a while, haven’t you been approached by adults who tell you some version of, “I have thought I’d write a book like yours some day.”? It’s possible–no, probable–that they haven’t a clue that writing a novel is hard work. You may even have been approached by a few people who say “I have a terrific idea for a story, I’ll tell it to you, you write it, and we’ll split the profits.” (Are all writers reading this laughing now?)
If we don’t believe in our work, if we aren’t truly proud of it, if we don’t think it worth while and don’t tell people about it, then who else might? Who better than the source of the work to promote the work, to say interesting things about it, to ask others to write words of praise, and, indeed, to brag a bit.
C’m on — you’re a creative person. You know the difference between obnoxious bragging, and sharing ideas about writing that may (who are you to judge?) lift its readers to new insights, to an awakening, or, most importantly, to a few pleasant hours away from the daily grind while they simply enjoy (!) being entertained.
Go forth, and share good things with your neighbors. Then you can be humbly grateful. 
