Reading is a good thing usually… until one is an author who looks at other people’s books and then wonders just how their book can even begin to stand up against the likes of “good” authors. It’s depressing, reading someone else’s work and then realizing that you aren’t as good. Well, for me at least. Normal people probably don’t get that bothered by it. But I do, because I want to be that good. So I practice, I write, and I try to piece together this massive puzzle in my brain in order for the book to be good.
It helps to have some internal support to go with this, but sometimes it’s just not there. That’s when a smart writer (okay, clever?) goes out and gets some outside support. Friends, family and loved ones can remind the author that their work doesn’t completely suck or, better still, they’re improving. Having a steady support structure set up (internal or external) is almost required by modern day standards. Gone are the days of Hunter S. Thompson locking himself away in a mountain cabin and hammering out a novel.
Mainly because he’s dead, but you get the point.
So who do you lean on? Do you torment that inner creative voice and isolate yourself, or do you immerse yourself with your friends and family when you write?
Jason Córdova 
Your writing has improved by leaps and bound over the years. I keep saying this, don’t sell yourself short. YOU are a damn good writer and have only gotten better. Quit being a whiny emo bitch and be proud of what you have accomplished. You will only get better and if you start doing it for the $$, I will have to come & bitch slap you.
Never said I haven’t improved, I’m always striving to be better. That’s my bottom line for each book – to improve my prose, pacing and style with each new book.