Respect your efforts, respect yourself. Self-respect leads to self-discipline. When you have both firmly under your belt, that's real power.
When I see a story I ask: is this something I'd like to be in? Is this something I'd like to see? And if I'd like to see it would I like to tell it?
I've never met a genius. A genius to me is someone who does well at something he hates. Anybody can do well at something he loves - it's just a question of finding the subject.
Sometimes if you want to see a change for the better, you have to take things into your own hands.