So you’re part way through writing something. You think it's been going swingingly. Everything looks on course for completion some time in the not-too-distant-future. Life is good.

Then one morning you wake up and something's chipping away at the back of your head like a distant woodpecker lodged in some cerebral forest. There's a rhythm to this sound. It forms words. They go something like this...

<em>But what if it's all no good after all?</em>

The doubt demons have got you. What to do?

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<strong>First thing</strong>

Realise, for pity's sake, you're not alone. I doubt there are many writers out there who don't suffer some unformed, ill-understood pangs of doubt part way through a project. It's only natural to question yourself from time to time. The people who think they're perfect and writing, first draft, straight out of the gate, a piece of genius... they're the ones who need to worry.

<strong>Second thing</strong>

Make no rash decisions. Under no circumstances let your fears take over to the extent that you start some immediate rewrite of the project. Remember: this all felt OK yesterday. That means it may well feel OK tomorrow. Books reveal themselves slowly, to their authors and their readers. You can't rush them.

<strong>Third thing</strong>

If you're still feeling worried after an hour or two get the hell out of there. Walk away from the project for a while. Walk the dog, mow the lawn, paint the study, go and see a concert or an exhibition. Do something that allows the blasted thing to exit your consciousness for a little while so that, when it returns, you can see it with some objectivity and perspective. If a work in progress is worthwhile you can walk away from it for a month or more and it will only appear fresher and clearer when you return. It's not going to run away in the meantime.

<strong>Fourth thing</strong>

If after all the above you still feel something's deeply wrong try the following...
<ul>
	<li>Go through any notes or book diary entries you made about the project to see if there's something you thought about earlier that hasn't gone in there</li>
	<li>Print out the manuscript so far, sit down for a while and read it, pen in hand.</li>
</ul>
<strong>Fifth thing</strong>

Still not convinced? We're running out of options here. What a lot of people will do is try to get a second opinion. A lot of the time these are worthless. People ask friends or relatives or others in their book group. None of whom have much of a clue how to judge an unfinished piece of work. To be frank I tend to feel that even professionals can only offer limited advice about something that's incomplete.

Yes, they will be able to tell you if they think it's an absolute stinker that should be flushed down the toilet immediately. But a third of a great book is a third of a great book, nothing more. Only you can write the remaining two thirds and make them great too. An editor or agent can nudge you back into the ring; they can't put on the gloves and fight for you. That's your job.

Doubt is a constant companion in any creative process, be it writing, painting or music. A useful one too. We should question our own abilities and our work. We need to be able to judge what we do frankly, harshly even, and be prepared to work twice as hard to fix things when they go wrong. The secret is to use the doubt to help you, not cripple you.

And in that we're lucky. Movie makers can't usually afford to reshoot scenes and sequences, musicians may find it difficult to muster the resources to go back into the studio and rerecord an album. Books are composed of nothing more than words, useful little things that can be changed and rewritten quickly and at will. All you have to do is find the right ones.