It's been a topic today in various parts of IRC, so I'm bringing it out here. Insecurity in our writing tells us that we have a lot of catching up to do, it lets us know of the errors in our writing, our plot, our characters. It provides us with a critical look at our own work and the ability to identify the areas to improve. It provides us with the urge to proofread and correct what we've written.

Taken too far, of course, we become a prisoner of it, we never put anything forward and we don't try new things. The question is, how do we harness that insecurity in one's own writing to keep growing and improving as writers without falling prey to that insecurity to the extent of giving up and not writing at all? What are your thoughts on it?

(Addendum: I don't see the point on wasting much writing on overconfidence, because we've all seen people that think they have nothing more to learn -- they're treading water and aren't going anywhere. I honestly can't imagine anyone here is actually completely satisfied with their writing and sees no room to improve.)