Wendy Cope Quotes

If you're a writer, you're constantly doubting yourself.

I always think the insecurity is going to go away, but it's always there. Only bad writers think they're good.

Anxiety and doubt are among my biggest struggles as a writer.

For a long time I managed to think two things simultaneously, that I am actually a good playwright, and that the next time I write a play I will be revealed as someone who is no good at all.

I'm fairly competant as a director and actor, but I am Mr. Neurotic as a writer. I just don't have enough confidence in my abilities to take criticism well. I take it personally. Start with 'It's a masterpiece,' and then tell me what you think could be changed.

The fear of mistakes is the fast track to irrelevance.

I second-guess and overthink and rethink every single thing that I do.

I don't write well when I'm sitting there sweating about every single phrase.

I have forgotten my rave reviews and memorized my vicious ones - like most writers.

I had a period where I thought I might not be good enough to publish.

As an actor, you're constantly riddled with self-doubt. You are your own worst critic.

I never thought I was good enough actually to write.

I've always wanted to do a photo book, but I've never done one because I've never felt ready; I just didn't feel my work was good enough.

I always had a superstitious fear of setting up a too well-designed writing place and then finding that the writing had absconded.

Every time I start a new piece of work, I spend a long while under the duvet thinking I can't do it.

The biggest challenge for me has been in coping with my perfectionism. I have a stiflingly hard time moving forward in a project if it's not 'just right' all along the way. The trap I so easily fall into is rewriting and rewriting the same scenes over and over to make them perfect, instead of continuing on into the wild unknown of the story.

Lack of confidence - every time I start a new piece of work, it seems I have to spend a long while under the duvet thinking I can't do it.

I tend to overthink things. I'm not the guy who screams 'This is a world smash!' when I finish a song.

My weakness as an actor is that I think too much.

Every word I write I suspect the next day.

I've learned how my own perfectionism can cripple me.

I have a hard time sometimes watching my own work.

You always feel like a hack and a fraud when you're writing. It's just how it goes.

I know I have trouble watching my own films.

I think one of the pitfalls of doing your own music is that sometimes you can never be satisfied with it: you're afraid to say that it's done, and you keep reworking it or re-recording it or re-writing it.