Writing Personal Stuff (A Quote I'm Sharing)

The more I write, the more I think this attitude/outlook is key:

Q: Your book is intensely personal. How did you decide to tell such intimate stories to the world?

A: I tried not to think about that aspect for the first draft. I wrote as if no one in the world would ever read a word of it, and told myself, if the issue of personal revelation becomes relevant, I will be more grateful to have this problem than I will be worried. But this approach is critical to writing anything. There are too many voices telling you that everything is a bad idea from the start. I'd never get anywhere if I considered these things in the beginning stages of development. It's a good thing writing is 90% rewriting, because with every new draft, I was growing as a person and a craftsman. I was getting stronger and more confident in my decisions--what to tell, what not to tell.

(Quoted from an interview with Domenica Ruta, talking about her debut memoir With Or Without You.)