by Bryan Hutchinson

What if writing isn’t all that different from sports? In that the technical aspects (punctuation, grammar and syntax etc…) get most of the attention, but it’s the mental game that matters most.

After all, if you doubt your ability to write a novel, or to write a good novel, or to write a novel others will want to read (see, this can go on all day), it doesn’t matter how technically proficient you are at writing if you don’t trust your ability to write words that matter.

1) Be mindful of what you say to yourself about yourself.

Writing is for the most part a solitary job and it’s easy to get caught up and overwhelmed by negative thoughts without even realizing it until it is too late. When the negative, self-critical voice comes be aware of it and immediately tell it to be quiet, because you’re busy writing. And continue writing.

2) Make a list of your accomplishments.

The negative voice in your head is a master at making you aware of your failures, both the real and the imagined, and if we’re not careful it’s easy to fall into the trap of believing we’ve never accomplished anything.

When the self-sabotaging voice tries to convince you that you are worthless and couldn’t write an opening paragraph to save your life, read your list of accomplishments, and then say aloud with conviction, “I am well able. I am a writer.”

3) Make a list of positive affirmations.

I used to underestimate the power of positive affirmations because I thought they were silly. Well, I eventually learned the reason this is such a popular suggestion is because positive affirmations work!

Make a list of affirmations you believe in (here’s a list to get you started), put a few of the most powerful on little pieces of paper and put them in places you will constantly see them. And when you see them, say them aloud.

4) Stop complaining.

We all do it. Most of the time we don’t even realize it.

Examples are, “My draft is crap. No. It’s worse. Calling it crap is too good for it.” – “I can’t come up with any ideas. I’m an idiot. Other people come up with great ideas easily.” – “I just wasted another day staring at the screen writing nothing but gibberish. I’m worthless. I’m nothing. And, I’m ugly, too!”

Okay folks, calm down. The end of the world isn’t upon us and you’re a lot better looking than you think you are, and you’re a much better writer than you think you are.

Besides: Scientific research from Stanford’s medical school revealed that exposure to just 30 minutes of – complaining – every day can physically damage the brain. It damages the neurons in the hippocampus, the part of the brain used for problem solving and cognitive functioning. (Source)

5) Be YOU!

You are uniquely you. Embrace yourself as you are. Stop comparing yourself to others. When we compare ourselves to others we come up short 99% of the time. Which only serves to make us feel worse about ourselves.

And you know why we come up short? Because our inner critic is always looking for ways to substantiate itself and finding other people who are “apparently” doing better than you are makes it easy.

Stop comparing yourself to others and be the only awesome person you are meant to be, you!

You Are Enough

You’re better than you think you are. You have it in you to write a masterpiece. And when you finish your first masterpiece, you’ll write another and then another. It doesn’t matter how much you’ve already written, your best is still to come.

But if you’re stuck in Writer’s Doubt and allow the harshest critic of all, your own internal negative voice, to kill your enthusiasm – you’ll never write the words that deserve to be written by you.

Repeat after me: “I write stories that matter.”

Yes, you do.

Now go and write something brilliant!