What went wrong? My last two years as a writer and how I've made no progress at all

Hello and a big warm welcome to my new blog!

This isn't exactly Writers' Anonymous, but you are very welcome here if you're a miserable and disillusioned writer on the point of giving it all up. You're very welcome, even if you are not those things, but you may not feel quite so much at home. Or maybe you will. Welcome, anyway!

A big proviso at the start. I do realise... yes, I do! that writing is not the be-all and end-all of life. I know that the success or failure of anything I write or don't write, ditto that of anyone else, doesn't matter that much in the overall scheme of things. The birth of my beautiful granddaughter in July this year has done a lot to put things back into perspective for me. So has the illness of a very dear friend. Perhaps that's why I'm blogging again - who knows?

Some of you may have met me before in my old blog, Rosalie Reviews, on which I've posted very little for the last year or so. That's not because I haven't been reading. I never stop reading - books are like oxygen to me. But I haven't been writing much, or not to much avail, for about two years now. I used to contribute to a number of writers' blogs - have given all that up. Used to belong to a number of writers' groups, online and out there in the real world - but no more. Haven't written a review for yonks. Nor done any school visits or radio interviews. Gave it all up to get back to my writing, then found I couldn't write. Or couldn't stick at anything.

I've lost confidence. And yes, I know it happens. I thought I'd been there before. Thought I knew the answers to the problem. 'Grow a thicker skin.' 'Write every day, if only 100 words.' 'Turn off the editor, just write.' 'Try something new.' Oh, the times I've dished out that and similar advice to other struggling writers, safe in my cocoon of (small) previous success. My apologies to anyone I've ever tried to 'encourage' with trite words. I knew nothing of what I spoke.

The last two years have been writing hell, in spite of having launched a proofreading and copy editing service which is doing fine. My own writing has shrivelled up to almost nothing, yet I'm lost without it. I'm still there, pretty much, in that bad place. It's so easy to blog when things are going well and so impossible when they're not - when you've nothing positive to say and who's going to want to read all these misery reports?

But I'm going to have a go - to write a blog from the point of view of a disillusioned writer - one who has bene published a few times and has self-published too; one who has had some good reviews but whose books are not widely known. And one who now doubts her ability to string together words that anyone will ever want to read.

If this rings any bells, please follow me. I'll tell the tale of what has got me down so badly and why the disappointments got me down the way they did. I'll share my efforts to get back on track. I'd love to hear from anyone in a similar situation or from anyone who has been there and come through. All I'd ask is that you don't think you've got the one-and-only answer. I've tried a lot of things. and while I would never discount what has helped other people, I've almost stopped looking for solutions. Instead I want company - the fellowship of the similarly disillusioned. Maybe we can share some laughs, as well as a few tears. And who knows, maybe some of us will scramble back on board.

I'll be back soon.
All the best
Ros