WAYS TO IMPROVING YOUR SELF-CONFIDENCE AS A WRITER.

Guess you remember vividly what I told you about our next writing tip.

It’s about you.

Yeah you heard me right!

It‘s all about ‘you’ and ‘yourself’.

You may be asking why?... Yes! the reason is because,

Conquering yourself is synonymous to conquering your self-confidence. And without self-conquer, it will be very hard for you to ever make it as a writer.

The difference between mediocre writers and famous writers is embedded in this 14- letter word called ‘self-confidence’. The former have a very poor image/self-confidence about themselves and as such, it reflects in the way they write. While the latter always believe that they write better and they keep improving with practice.

Let me ask you; are you scared to let anyone read your latest short story?

Or perhaps, you have just drafted an E-mail and you are busy agonizing about it.

Lacking self -confidence can spell doom to even one of the finest writers around.

Truly, am not going to bore you with a very long assay about the art of mastering and improving your self-confidence.

Many ways to improving it abound.

But the real question is which of them truly works?

A lot of fellow writers have written countless of what causes it and ways to getting over them.

But one thing I discover myself was that, they all often try to shove what they think works for them down your throat, arguing that because it worked for them, it will work for you as well.

No doubt about it. To some, it actually does.

But the truth is that it had never worked for everybody.

Like I told you in my previous blog post, apart from PERFECTIONIST mentality, the second most common causes of the so-called writers block, is lack of self-confidence.

I sincerely want us to finish dealing with all the major hindrances countless teeming writers encounter, while setting out to write, before going further to giving you basic rudiments about writing and crafting a good novel, be it sci-fi, horror or story-telling etc.

Listen, a lot of guys out there have always nurtured the dream of becoming a published writer but they have often stood wondering why their dreams never come to fruition, why because they have never bothered to pay close attention to their poor self image.

Enough said, let me quickly take you to the universal rule.

In fact, it’s one of the few words commonly spoken about by people.

But the truth is; how many people have actually paid real attention towards putting it into practice?

Talk they say is cheap!

Let’s quickly get down to business.

I have taken much of our time to building you up, so that this two common-but-all-powerful words, am going to reveal to you will not be thrown to the winds again like before.

heheehe......

I know why I said this.

My friends, Look, for you to write, it takes a lot of patients and determination.

No doubt about that. And don’t let anybody get you thinking that it’s all roses.

Look my friend, after overcoming the perfectionist altitude.

You can read-up my previous post about PERFECTIONISM.

The next to conquer is you, you, and yourself.

Yeah!

There is no stopping you in your writing quest except your very self and I meant every bit of it.

Let me show you why.

Another name for self-confidence is self – esteem.

Having a very good image about yourself makes you 'believe' in whatever you do.

Now, here is the key ‘BELIEVE’.

There is a popular saying that whatever you believe you will achieve.

And I must tell you that this is one of the truest saying I have ever known.

Let’s think about this, if you don’t believe in yourself, who else will?

The answer is nobody.  So, it all begins with you.

Believe in yourself and your self-confidence will be back. No long grammar. It’s as simple as that.

The next step is practice, practice and practice.

You must have heard the saying that practice makes perfection.

So now, the ball is in your court.

Have you noticed why some professional footballers, after being confined to bench role for sometime often play ball as-if  they are amateurs.

The secret is, because they have not been having game time, their fitness level is low, and as such, their confidence level will be low as well.

So learn to practice and get your self-confidence back.

There is no short-cut towards becoming that writer you had dream of. The key is writing,writing and writing..... and you will be amazed how improved a writer you will become in no distant time.

Have a great day!

Please don’t forget to share with us your success.

See you at the top!

Iyke Udenze.

THE NEGATIVE EFFECT OF PERFECTIONISM IN WRITING.

A lot of folks have taken pains to explain to me several times the reason why they can never succeed as a writer. Most of their excuses ranges from the fact that; they hadn't taken enough  writing course, to the fact that each time they manage to write, their writing often look very horrible. Of all this, I noticed two very powerful things that have contributed to this their state of hopelessness.

1.     Perfectionism

2.     Lack of self confidence.

Of the two, I will dwell on perfectionism as a major cause of writers block. Some other times, we shall talk about self-confidence and ways to improving it as a writer.

Perfectionism simply put, by my own definition, is an act of always wanting everything to be perfectly done without mistakes or finding it hard to get satisfied with anything less perfect.

Of a truth, nobody wants a mediocre standard. Not even myself.

Sincerely I detest it with all malice.

But the truth is that as a beginner writer or even a professional, you shouldn't kill yourself for making a mistake. The reason is, you will end up messing up much more the next time, because you have already dampened you self confidence.

The grandest truth you should note is that, nobody is really perfect.

Yes, you heard me right.

Even Mr. Right is never right! 

 And no matter how good your writing may seem to you, it can never be void of getting critiqued. The sense of perfectionism paralyses you and keeps you from accomplishing your goals. If you feel like everything has to be done perfectly, then am very sorry to tell you that you will never be truly happy with yourself or your circumstances. Instead, congratulate yourself for a job well done instead of wanting everything to be absolutely perfect. If you are in the mindset of a perfectionist, then, you will only be getting in the way of more confident version of yourself.

There is a striking difference between doing a sloppy job and agonizing over something until it is past flawless. Find a way to be happy with what you have done, without obsessing over it.

The key is you never can get better without making a mistake. Even many famous writers often throw away many junks of their write-up and still get criticized after getting published. It has never diminished their influence, but it only makes them better.

So, just start writing, engage the power of your imagination, and you will be amazed at what you would achieve.

 See you at the top!

Please remember to drop a comment, that is the only way we feel your appreciation.

Next time, I will be talking about building your self-confidence as a writer.

I remain yours sincerely,

Iyke Udenze.