Boost Your Confidence as a Writer

A Story by Clair Wilson

Advice & 3 Steps

Live. Write. Thrive.

Key note #1: Stop comparing yourself to other writers out there. You will never measure up to them, because you aren't them!

Here's the thing - even published writers and award winners and writers on their tenth novel have bad days. Even then, they have moments where they lose their confidence and feel like they have no clue what they're doing.

Take for example, my good friend, Simone. She's a pro at writing and conveying her thoughts to an audience. She's been writing since before I met her in college. But the other day, when we spoke, she was relaxing from a long day at work and she told me time and time again that she couldn't write another book (she published a book of poems, as an undergraduate), because she couldn't find the inspiration. She just sat there, worn out look from the days adventure, shoes off, spread out on her bed, exhaling a puff of warm, tired air. She told me she wanted "something more," she needed that creative kick in life, but just was lost on inspiration. She wouldn't budge.

Sometimes, we just need to be carried...or in our case, we just needed girl talk. But then later that night, she talked about how excited she was with some new inspiration in her life - it just rolled off her tongue.

Know what moments I'm talking about? We all have them. One moment we freak out and think we can't do something, and the next, we figure out a way to accomplish it and think how silly we were thinking we couldn't.

Lately, I've been caught in the middle about talk regarding how people feel about themselves - not measuring up, not good enough, how there's more for them, but not in the place they're currently at. It makes me feel better about when I doubt myself, because it makes me step outside myself and see, it happens to everyone. Just knowing we're not alone and that we all feel this way, at one time or another, it helps.

But the best part is there are things you can do to overcome the negative voices that keep you stuck and not working on your writing, or other things that you love. But for all the writers out there, here are three ways to boost the confidence you've been needing...

1. Tapping, or Emotional Freedom Technique�"I know this may seem strange at first, but it’s totally amazing. I always get great results using tapping. You can tap out all the negative voices and focus on building your confidence.Check out YouTube for tapping videos.

2. Flip the Fear�"this is a great exercise, and one I do regularly when I have a lot of fear coming up that’s putting a damper on my confidence. What you do is grab a piece of paper and draw a line down the center vertically. One the left side list the fears that you have coming up related to your writing or yourself as a writer. Then in the right column, next to each fear, flip it by writing a reason why the fear is not true.For example, if you listed, “I can’t do this,” as the fear, you can flip it by saying, “I’ve written two other novel drafts, so clearly I can do it and I will do it.”

Don't let your mind get the best of you!

3. The “Why I’m Awesome” List�"to help get your confidence back, you have to remind yourself why you’re so awesome. Again, grab a piece of paper and make a list of all the reasons why you’re awesome.What have you accomplished in your life? What do you love about yourself? What do you love about your life? List all the things that make it awesome to be you. Refer back to this list whenever you need a confidence boost.

The thing with doing anything important and worthwhile in life�"like writing a novel�"is it always comes with a side of fear. But now you have the tools to push past that fear and keep on writing.

What helps you get through?