Here’s a post from June, 2013. It still holds true and is very relevant to writers and authors that I speak with every day.
Two truths about writing romance…
A: Writers are tough – they deal with daily confidence struggles and they stick at it.
B: It doesn’t matter how accomplished you are, confidence in your writing abilities will always nag at you.
What is different for each and every one of us is the fact that we deal with different confidence issues and we manage them in our own unique way. One person may struggle with the belief that they’re supposed to want to write every single day while another person may struggle with the belief that all the good ideas have been written about.
Neither Belief Is True
Or rather, neither belief is true for everyone. You see, you have to first identify what you believe. Then you explore why you believe it. If it’s not true or the belief isn’t supporting you then it’s time to change that belief.
For example, if you believe that you must write every day you may feel overwhelming pressure to achieve this and that pressure may stifle your creativity and actually make you not want to write. If you release this belief and instead adopt a belief that writing is something to enjoy you may find that it’s much easier to sit down at your keyboard and confidently create.
So of course the difficult part is identifying and challenging those limiting beliefs. They’re so ingrained in your mindset that you might not even be aware of them. You simply take them as gospel without question.
I had the pleasure and honor to present a workshop at the Crested Butte Writer’s Conference. It was appropriately titled, “All the World’s a Story – Tell Yours With Confidence.” At the workshop I discussed confidence issues and shared a worksheet. The worksheet is a a step-by-step action oriented worksheet that will help you identify your limiting beliefs and then take each and every negative thought or limiting belief and turn them into a positive and empowering statement – a statement that will boost your confidence and help motivate you to achieve your writing goals.
You can download the worksheet here. (It’s free and you don’t need to share your email to access it. No strings attached!)
Enjoy and happy writing!