“The worst energy to creativity is self-doubt.” Sylvia Plath
This quote stood out to me a lot. I think all creatives struggle with self-doubt at some point. And, if you’re not, you’re fooling yourself.
Writing a book can be fun and exciting. You have this amazing idea and all these ambitions of becoming the next Tolkien or Stephen King or whoever your favorite author is. You’ve outlined, you’ve created binders upon binders full of backstory, world history, maps and portraits. This is going to be awesome. And then you start writing and suddenly everything turns to crap. And, this doesn’t happen just once. It’s a recurring issue. Nothing like crippling anxiety when you’re trying to work on something you’re passionate about.
So, from my own experience and listening to others, I’ve come up with some tips to help you when you feel like you’re just writing piles of flaming monkey poo. Hopefully, these tips will help lessen those awful days and push you to keep working.
Stop obsessively reading your manuscript! I’ve heard authors say that they’ve had a low moment in their confidence, went over their manuscript, thought everything looked like sh*t, and did one of two things: a) Obsessively edited and re-edited a section/chapter/whatever so that the book never got done or b) Scrapped the entire thing! Huge over reaction! When you’re feeling down, don’t take out those emotions out on your book baby. Set your work aside, take a break for a day, and then come back with a clearer head. Then, you can focus on it and maybe pick out what’s positive about it. This will allow you to focus on tweaking and improving what you don’t like without being overly destructive.
Stepping away can also be beneficial because you are so close to your work. You tend to not see certain things. Or, is there something left unaccomplished elsewhere in your life that you’re feeling guilty about that is causing you not to focus? Step back, go for a walk, do the dishes, something to distract you for an hour or so and then come back clearheaded and ready to work.
Also, falling into the trap of comparing your work can lead you to constantly edit and tweak and rewrite because you want to be like your idol. But, everyone has their own style. As much as I love her work, I will never write exactly like Nora Roberts. I don’t have her writing style. Trying to copy it would feel false and I’d just end up causing an even larger headache.
Accept that it’s normal- Feelings of doubt and uncertainty is human. Everyone goes through it at some point, multiple times, in their lives. It’s also part of being a creative. Whether it’s writing a novel, painting, drawing a comic, we’re creating these things out of nothing which can be daunting. But, if you’re passionate about what you’re creating, and understand that this feeling is normal, you can come up with ways to move past it.
Positive Affirmation- Art is subjective. Not everyone is going to like everything you put out into the world. But, it helps to find the inspiration to keep going, either from people who do support you or getting creative. That’s partly why I started this series. I found a ton of quotes that help me, a lot of them focus on self-doubt and not comparing. I write down something a beta reader said that’s funny or encouraging. Anything you can do to keep that positive mindset. The human mind can be awful sometimes. We tend to zero in on the negative things. Part of why I look back on 6th grade and just cringe was the amount of negative interaction I had just in that one year of school. Even though I had amazing teachers and I met some of my dearest friends, a lot of that is fuzzy because I was so focused on the name calling, glue being put in my hair, etc. If I had learned to tune those things out, I probably could look on that year a little more favorably. Same goes for writing.
Look for inspiration- This is along the lines of 3 as those affirmations can be very inspiring. Other ways can be just having a thought provoking conversation, people watching, sometimes my friends and I like to have a collaborative brain dump for a silly story idea. We’ll play that game where we pass a notepad around and everyone has to write a sentence or 5 to see what we come up with. I used to role play a lot just out of high school and those stories actually play a lot in my current series. Inspiration can come from anywhere. The key is recognizing it and taking the actions to utilize it in your work. Music helps when you’re trying to nail down a particular mood of a scene. I have playlists all over the place, both on YouTube and Spotify. The YouTube one is just amazing instrumental music all in one list that helps me focus on writing. Spotify and in my personal collection, I’ve divided music up by mood- happy, romantic, sad, dark, fight scenes. I even have playlists for individual characters. I’ll listen to these when I’m getting ready to write to help get into the head of the POV I’m focusing on.
Get a second opinion- Critique partners and beta readers have been the most helpful people I’ve ever had on my writing journey. They’re constructive while also being encouraging. “This part was great!” or “The dialogue went on a bit too rambling here. Cut it and it has potential.” It’s helped so much. Going back to what I said in point 1, you’re too close to your work. You need a 2nd, 3rd, or 4th pair of eyes to help you see things you’ve missed as you’re writing and editing.
Root for yourself- People suck. People hiding behind a screen suck even worse. Whether it’s in person or online, trolls are everywhere. There will be people who scoff at the idea of being a writer as a viable career choice. But, you have to say, “Screw that. This is what I want to do. This is the story I want to tell. Gosh darnit, I’m gonna tell it. You don’t like it? Tough cookies. There’s the door.” And, it can be hard when those people looking down on you are your friends and family. People you would think should support you no matter what.
Not everyone in my life was on board with my wanting to be an author. I had people tell me I was wasting my time. But, I have been passionate about writing since before I can remember. So, nothing was going to stop me from, at least, trying.
Don’t feed the trolls. They feed on your reaction to their negativity. Focus on you. Kristen Martin, author of the Alpha Drive trilogy, mentions in a video on doubt the importance of gratitude journals and celebration lists. Anything that helps you focus on the positive and your love of whatever your creative endeavor may be.
Take care of yourself. This is something I’ve really begun to focus on lately. I had a really negative experience at the end of last year and it was hard to pull myself out of the funk that created. I could have Joe and my family encouraging me until they turned blue but I had to see it in myself. So, I have a morning routine on writing days where I take a little time to improve my mood, get energized and excited to write, and then I find myself doubting a lot less. I get up about 5(ish), shower, spend some time with Husband before he goes to work. Next, I make myself a big fruit smoothie for breakfast. (Today was watermelon, pineapple, mango, peaches, strawberries, grapes, and cherries) I turn on my writing playlist of choice or a podcast, turn on my oil diffuser, and settle in to work. All these things lighten my mood and help me concentrate on the task at hand. When it’s sunny out, I open the curtains and when it’s warm out (someday), I open the windows and get fresh air flowing all through the house. If I need to change up my location, I’ll take a notebook and go to the park for a brainstorm session. (It hasn’t been warm enough for that yet) I love to put on a podcast on my iPod and go for a walk just to get out of the house. I think we get so caught up in our work or taking care of our families that we neglect ourselves. And, that’s just as important.
I hope these things helped you move past the self doubt you may experience on your creative journey. What are some of the things you do to move past those negative voices keeping you away from your writing? Let me know in the comments!