How to build confidence in your writing
It’s time to realise you’re amazing
Writers are often plagued by doubt in our writing ability, stories and our careers. This newsletter offers some practical tips to find confidence in yourself and banish those doubts! You’ve got this.
EVENT: The Summer Festival of Writing starts in just three weeks
Only a few weeks left to bag yourself a seat for one of the biggest online writing festivals in the world. Connect with amazing tutors, meet like-minded people and kick-start your writing.
This week on Jericho Writers:
WEBINAR: Building confidence in your writing
Wednesday 12 May. Most writers will suffer from a lack of confidence at some stage in their career. In this session, we look at practical ways to help build resilience in your writer’s life and confidence in your work. Exclusive for members.
NON-MEMBERS – JOIN US TO REGISTER
REPLAY: How To Make Writing Dreams A Reality Mini-Course
This mini-course will help you thrive in the face of the psychological and emotional challenges that life as a writer brings. Taught by bestselling author and writing-life coach Sophie Hannah.
NON-MEMBERS – JOIN US TO WATCH
COURSES: Last few spots for tutored courses remain!
Grab the remaining places on Creative Writing 101, Writing for Children and Creative Non-Fiction tutored courses. Choose your genre and learn alongside an expert tutor and an intimate class of writers.
How to feel confident in your writing
This is actually a difficult newsletter to write because I – like many writers – struggle with feeling confident about my writing, books and career as a whole. And as feelings go, this one is entirely unproductive. It makes me less likely to write, which makes me less likely to finish, which in turn makes me less likely to achieve my goal – and the cycle goes on.
But there are ways we can break this cycle and start thinking about ourselves as successful writers – even when we might never have had any success before. Some of these are techniques borrowed from Sophie Hannah’s brilliant Dream Author program (a mini-course of which you can find above). Some are from writing friends, and some are my own.
1) Stop expecting perfection. No writer gets it right the first time. First drafts are meant to be awful – the point is to just get the words down.
2) Stop defining success as something you don’t have. Have an idea you’re excited about? Success. Finished a draft of a book – WELL DONE. Give yourself credit and stop moving the goalposts before allowing the confidence you gain from achieving a goal to sink in.
3) Stop reading your work back all the time. What you wrote yesterday doesn’t define what you will write today.
4) Stop telling yourself you can’t do this. You can. It might be hard, but everything worth doing always is.
5) Go.
What are your tips to feeling confident in your writing? Sign up for free and share them in the Community here.
Sarah Juckes x
Plus, don’t miss:
Summer Festival of Writing Bursary • Jericho Writers
We’re giving 30 under-represented writers a free ticket to the Summer Festival of Writing. It’s super easy to apply – just make sure you do before 23 May.
Manuscript Assessment (10% discount available for members)
Our most popular editorial service matches you to your dream editor and gives you tailored feedback on your work.
Receive a fully-funded place on the ‘Self-Edit Your Novel’ tutored course
As always – we’re offering one fully-funded spot on this life-changing course to a deserving under-represented, or low-income writer. Simply apply with your work-in-progress.
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