Thank you for having me, Alan! Enjoyed those questions a lot.

You can do that! Push through. If your writing makes you laugh/cry/feel something, then it will inevitably make other people feel the same.

Everybody sucks! We suck in comparison to other authors, we suck in comparison to our ideal self. The best part is that's okay. You are supposed to suck, otherwise how would you get better?

Honestly, I stopped thinking about it. As long as I do my best right now, it *will* be good.

The moment when I read something I wrote and thought it was good came well after a few rounds of professional editing.

Thank you so much!

I find it that being sparse on actions is far better than flooding the reader with a novelette in-between two dialogue phrases. You can often do more with less. A lot of emotions and even actions can be implied from a properly set dialogue.

The same goes for action bits in dialogue, with the exception that actions are a great way to interconnect your dialogue with whatever is going on around it. A proper choice of an action makes the dialogue drive the events and events drive the dialogue.

Tags are there for the reader. Your character doesn't "perform" those tags. That's why most often a good way to accentuate is to show how the character delivers that line of dialogue instead of using a tag. Body language is vital when talking so use it.

The truth is, "said" is fine most of the time. There's nothing wrong with it. It's a word like any other, it has a purpose and it serves it well. Use tags as inklings of accentuation where such is due. Yell and scream where it's appropriate, but remember that tags isn't the only way of expression.

3. Tags and action bits.

If you struggle to find the right tag for the dialogue, you are focusing on the wrong thing. Tags are important, don't get me wrong, but they will find their way. I don't believe you have to concoct them.