Authors, I want to talk about self-doubt for a second.

It can happen to anyone, from Sunday Times bestsellers to those just starting out. And it can be triggered by anything. Seeing a big seven-figure pre-empt deal, a rejection, a so-so review. Anything.

It’s also really hard to talk about, especially on social media. It’s much easier to type “yay I smashed my word count!!” than “actually, I’m doubting everything I’ve ever done and wondering if there’s a place for me and my stories.”

But that’s exactly why we should talk about it. Because there are probably so many people feeling it and thinking they’re all alone. That everyone else knows what they’re doing except them.

It came for me this week, in the unlikeliest of circumstances.

#TheSingleDadsHandbook has been getting excellent reviews. I finished reading through Book Eight and it was in a better shape than I thought. In theory, I should’ve been able to get stuck into my edits, like always.

But no.

Instead, I’ve worried about every single aspect of my career - the quality of my writing, whether my good reviews are “just being nice” and how long it’ll be before people realise I’ve no idea what I’m doing and kick me out of publishing.

My friends - my lovely, kind, beautiful friends - have told me it’s rubbish. And I know it is myself. I’ve no idea where the self-doubt came from or why, just how it made me feel. Like an absolute fraud who’ll never reach my career aspirations.

It’s been a hard week.

Self-doubt can be a really isolating feeling and that’s exactly why I’m tweeting about it. If you’re feeling it too, then I want you to know you’re not alone. For me, the clouds are shifting and I think I’ll get back to work this weekend.