[uebyn]

One of the members here said something to the effect of 'most writing are trash, yet the amateurs always think they have written something wonderful. The professionals know better.' (Sorry I'm lazy to find the thread.)

Anyway, he/she is so right. I hardly ever read contemporary fiction anymore, because I have this sneaking suspicion that most of them are not any good. (Sorry writers, but it's just a peculiar bias of mine.)

Now here comes the interesting question: then why am I writing? Am I not contributing to the ever-increasing pile of trashy stories? Really, as an aspiring writer, I often think: am I really writing something worth writing, or should I really just destroy what I have written? Coz' while I usually like what I wrote (after proofreading), sometimes I wonder if that's not just a kind of perverse self-congratulatory emotion at work. Like Hemingway said, what writers need, really, is a 'built-in, shockproof, shit detector'. It seems like I don't have one. But at least I do have a suspicious character (a good thing) that makes me think: maybe I really shouldn't write all this, or at least spare anyone else other than myself the agony of reading it.

Doesn't anyone here share the same sentiments? (Oh, and I am not fishing for comforting or encouraging words, not at all. I know I'm probably rubbish. I'm simply sharing my conflicting feeling as a discriminating reader cum writer.)