“Writing fiction, especially a long work of fiction can be difficult, lonely job; it’s like crossing the Atlantic Ocean in a bathtub. There’s plenty of opportunity for self-doubt.”
― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
Do you doubt yourself while you’re writing? I know I do. Is that a good thing? Perhaps some of the junkiest books come from folks who believe that nothing but rainbows comes out of their pen? Perhaps some of the best writing comes from people who have toiled away, questioning and self-debating every single, solitary last word choice?
What say you, readers?
Bookshelf Battle 
I think you have to work really hard. Usually, the hardest work is in revision. That’s where a lot of people get stuck or stop. I think you have to be confident, but also humble. Not everything works. Not everything is rainbows. Workshopping and getting to know other writers is so important. And even then, it’s not like Tin House doesn’t have thousands of submissions to go through. On that point, if you know what you’ve toiled to is good, is as least as good as the lit mags, be proud, be emboldened, and keep going. just my two cents.
Those are some fine cents.
I think doubt helps my writing, and I hope I never think that rainbows flow from my fingertips and weave into perfect stories. Doubts give rise to questions that help sharpen my writing as I revise it. Of course, there are doubts that pop up about nobody wanting to read the story — but that’s completely different. There’s only so much under an author’s control.
Doubt can make our stories better, but maybe too much keeps us from even writing anything. I don’t know. Everyone is different.
Your last line reminds me of King’s description of Vonnegut’s writing style in On Writing. Vonnegut was a polisher. He worked and toiled and shined and toiled and perfected every word on every page before he sent off a manuscript. I’m betting because he just doubted the quality of his work that much. And then, last night, I was reading Gareth’s Roberts’ afterword to Douglas Adams’ Shada. Adams could knock off a mind-blowing script in a weekend and was, for all of his career, a spectactularly productive writer. But he doubted, every day, whether his work was really good enough, and (like so many working writers) had to send off what he thought wasn’t good enough because of life, deadlines and pressure. So, I think it comes down to how much time you have and what works for you. And I think doubt might be the one universal among writers, and probably artistic people in general, too.
Time is the hard part. When you’re just starting, you theoretically have nothing but time. You need to work really hard to self-impose your own personal deadline. If a publisher told me today, “Get us a book in 6 months and we’ll publish,” then dang it, they’ll receive a book in 6 months from me. But on my own, well, I’m answerable to myself, and thus far I’ve been kind of a pushover boss toward myself.