Insecure Writers Support Group. I feel attracted to writing...

"If writing's therapy, let it work for you. It can't do any harm. It will do you good. It does me good. I feel attracted to writing. Maybe an odd term, but it fits. Writing attracts me, the mystery of it, the way words fit together on a page to make an image or a point or just to be there, sounding.

Seeing my own words on the page is thrilling. There's a wonderful kind of conceit in reading them, knowing they're mine. Part of that terrifies me because it's so incredibly exciting. For so much of my life I've turned away, backed away, hidden away from anything that's frightening. Even when it's thrilling as well.
I want to feel substantial again. I yearn for confidence. And under it all, I have a deep and nearly crushed-out delight in the fantastic. How it was nearly crushed and by whom isn't really important here. Not now that I find the glimmer of it's still there, inside me. Enough of a glimmer for me to be able to write, at least in secret..."

Aren't these inspiring words? They say exactly what I want to say but so much better! I give all credit to Nora Roberts for this little extract, the inner thoughts of her character Jude in the enchanting novel I read recently, Jewels of the Sun, the first in her Irish Jewels Trilogy. (I'm off to get my hands on Tears of the Moon and Heart of the Sea now.

Thanks Nora. You're always inspirational.

• I hope you feel pumped after reading my extract. What's stopping you writing? Have you overcome your self-doubt, or does self-doubt still pull up a chair when you sit down to write?

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