Dean Wesley Smith has an excellent post on fear. I think it's really important for writers to get over the notion that publishing is some kind of magical black box that miraculously spits out perfect books via an arcane process that you're just too dumb to understand. If anything, I went the other way, thinking I knew more than I did when I started. But I learned, and now I have two professional-looking books out. If I had been too intimidated to start, I would now have exactly what I had two years ago--nothing.
Smith writes, "Let me be clear here. THE ONLY THING THAT WILL KILL A WRITING CAREER IS THE WRITER STOPPING WRITING." Of course, I could not agree more--although writing stuff and then locking it away so that no one else will ever see it is also an effective career-killing technique.
So, how am I doing with the writing? Not great--my sister is out of town, so family and child care obligations are pretty much nuking the week, but she should be back soon.