It’s no wonder you don’t feel secure, Charles. I can tell by what you’ve told me that you’re hanging on by just a slender thread. And believe me, given that your editor ruthlessly called your new novel’s first draft banal and trite, that’s understandable. But you don’t need to be fanatical about the discipline you impose upon yourself to get this next book cookin’.

Yes, your first book received rave reviews and critical acclaim. It was a best seller and that’s got to be a tough act to follow. But let me remind you that, when you wrote your first book, you were a federal prisoner locked behind bars in a fortress for a crime you didn’t commit. It was a compelling story. But, Charles, it’s not necessary for you to now kill your editor so that you can be arrested and locked up again. You don’t need a jail cell as your writing room in order to replicate the writing process you used.

As your therapist, I suggest that you take a break, clear your head, and then come back with a fresh new attitude. Remember, Charles, it’s not where you write, it’s what you write.

Written for Greg’s Five Word Weekly Challenge, where the words are banal, fanatical, fortress, secure, and slender. Image credit: vocal.media.