Belief

"I suppose that there are endeavors in which self-confidence is even more important than it is in writing -- tightrope walking comes immediately to mind -- but it's difficult for me to think of anybody producing much writing if his confidence is completely shot. In order to take a crack at the third or fourth draft, you have to hold on to an almost insane belief -- insane in that you can't think of any rational evidence to support it -- that what you're working on, by now stupefyingly boring to you, will be of interest or value to others."

-- Calvin Trillin, Remembering Denny