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I really must sort out this blog and get rid of those short stories. Today I have written an article for doesn't which if it doesn't get published, I shall turn into a short story. I also sent a letter to writers' forum about biogs and cvs as follows-- I started to prepare an article for a magazine. I read through the submission guidelines for the umpteenth time. ‘x no. of words plus a CV and brief biog’ How on earth can I write a brief biog? I am 70 and I haven’t written a CV since - well- let’s use a cliché - since Adam was a lad? What do they want, a record of my education? Remembering my school and college days brings forth a hazy mist. A list of career placements would be too long and boring for them as well as me. But I really wanted to submit the piece. So, to say I settled down in front of the computer would be lying. I forced myself to open a new document and began the impossible job of remembering parts of my life I had long forgotten and considered unimportant. At the first attempt I spent a couple of hours dragging through my past and decided it was taking too long and I would have to leave it for another day. After all a career of 55 years takes long enough to think about let alone write down. After the third attempt I decided that they really wouldn’t want to know all this stuff about me and anyway I thought why the writing can’t speak for itself. If it’s good enough it’s good enough, what does it matter where I went to school. But by then I became quite impressed with myself. I realised that although I probably wouldn’t send all these details of my life to the editor of said magazine, I had led an interesting life and had some successes. Now I shall submit my piece with more confidence but with a greatly edited version of my original CV and biography. So, my advice to writers who are facing a crisis of confidence is - Start a File. Record in it all the details of your life, education, courses, jobs successes and any achievement however small. Then whenever you are losing confidence run through all your successes to boost yourself image. And of course, whenever you need to provide ‘Brief biog and/or CV it’s there at the click of a button. Jean Wild, France