It turns out there is a bully even meaner and more pernicious than the one hanging around the deserted playground: the bully within.  It’s that voice inside you that says everything with a sneer, like “You don’t really think you can make it as a writer, do you?”  Or the voice that whispers you don’t have any true friends, pointing out people are just being polite.  Your inner bully blocks the path to success and undermines your efforts to explore.

Your first instinct might be to let your “parents” take care of the problem, allowing the stern, authoritative side of yourself to put that bully in his place.  The problem is that bullies don’t listen to reason.  He might go away for a while, but in fact he’s just hiding until your “parents” get distracted by more important things, like work and paying the bills.