There are many facets to an artist, but one quality that most, if not all artists possess to some degree is in... in... insecurity.  There! I've said it.  Not that I want to admit it but it's true, if we're honest that is.  So who wants to show that bit of dirty laundry?  NO ONE!  That's a character flaw for Pete's sake.  So, we cover it up, or try to anyway.

It is 200 years ago today that Charles Dickens was born, and as a consequence there is much in the media celebrating his life and amazing writings. I heard Simon Callow, the actor and also biographer of a new book on Dickens, say today : '"Dickens' greatest fiction was his own character.....People think of him as a jolly chap ... but he was ... increasingly plagued with depression and a sense of hopelessness and despair. And that's worth knowing. I think it's always good to know that great creative individuals have their struggle, their drama." How well put. Or as writer friend said to me when I asked, "do you ever wonder if you're good enough?" and he answered, as he puffed on his pipe, "Ah yes, that is a question we really don't want to ask ourselves." 

So then I think, perhaps it is the insecurity that drives us on in some way, to prove to ourselves that we do have a gift,  but then we try to take it back as if we were the source, rather than what it is, a gift.