Have Confidence in Your Ability to be Amazing

I think it's somehow a curse of creative people that we tend to be a bit insecure. Maybe it's part of the creative nature; maybe it's due to the fact that we submit ourselves to constant criticism in the name of improving our craft.

We've probably all experienced those moments when you look at something you've written and thought, "This sucks. I suck. My writing will never go anywhere." While I do think it's important to be aware of our weaknesses so we can improve, that kind of thinking never did anyone any good.

In moments like those-- and in our writing in general-- we need more confidence. We need a firm trust in ourselves and our abilities, a belief that we can actually achieve what we're working for. It can be hard to dig up that confidence, especially when we see our weaknesses and constantly have them pointed out to us. How can we believe in ourselves if we still have so far to go?

We can believe in our ability to improve.
We can believe in our strength to deal with criticism and apply it to our work.
We can believe that, even with mistakes, the fact that we have written anything at all is a triumph.
We can believe that our hard work will pay off-- and is paying off even now.
We can believe in the validations of our work, in addition to the criticisms.
We can believe that our accomplishments, no matter how small, are worthwhile.

So, my friends, have confidence in yourselves as writers. Allow yourself to look back on all the good things you've done and find value in them. We're all works-in-progress, but that doesn't mean we can't acknowledge all we've achieved so far. Go forth and believe in your ability to be amazing.