Lacking confidence?

Confidence is something every author needs to carry on with their piece of writing. Here's an example: the making of a story or book is like a body. Each organ within it is vital, just like every organ we have is vital. Say, confidence is our liver in story/book making, without that, the story can't survive. Just like we cannot survive without our liver. Now just think that all vital parts to story making are a vital organ. Each one is needed or if it's not present, there will be long-term and future consequences. It's a strange example but it works!

So how do you know if you're lacking confidence in your writing?
Ways to recognise that you are lacking confidence in your writing are:

You feel like whatever you write or whatever plot you produce for your story or book, it is not satisfying.
You feel like the book you are currently reading puts your story to shame. (This can be called 'competing with another author').
You feel like your story/book doesn't grip you, therefore you come to believe that it would never grip anyone else.
You feel like your story/book is boring.
You hate your story/book.
You think your story/book will never become a best-seller.

If you have experienced any of these doubts, thoughts and/or feelings, here are the solutions:

1. If your piece of writing does not appeal to you then you are doing something wrong. To explain further, for instance: you might be pushing yourself too far, setting your goals too high (but who is to say that you cannot achieve what you desire to achieve?), 'competing' with another author's piece of writing, rushing your story/book etc. If you recognise these problems as one of your own, then read on.

2.  If you're rushing your story/book/writing, slow down. It is not a race. There are no deadlines. This is your book or story - you name it! If setting deadlines helps you work more fluently, then by all means, set deadlines. But if this is making you rush your writing, resulting in your writing becoming distasteful and unsatisfying to you, hence you losing confidence, then I recommend that you stop using deadlines.
  If you are setting your goals too high, like pushing yourself to write five chapters a day or more, this can cause your writing to become dry or less inspirational and readable as it could be. But if your writing has become any of those above, there is no one to say that you cannot proof-read it and improve it in your spare time. 

3.  Also, setting your goals too high could involve having high expectations. For instance, you might be trying to make your writing amazing, inspirational, gripping and monumental all at once. This is a bad idea. I like to say, "Great books do not come from nothing. They come from courage and hard work." Lower your expectations a little. Focus on one thing at a time. So instead of focusing on making your story amazing, inspirational, gripping and monumental at the same time; try making it only one those things. Then after that part is done and dusted, sweep onto the next one. It works! :)

4.  Furthermore, focusing on another author's work of writing is a bad idea. As I said before, this is 'competing with another author'. So for example, don't try to create a book as good as Stephanie Meyer's Twilight book. It's all right to have an author as a role model who inspires your work and ideas, but constantly comparing your writing to theirs and focusing only on producing better writing than theirs is not going to help. A lot of people fall in this trap. Some of those people are afraid to admit it. I'm not! I have fell into this trap before. It's one of the reasons that I developed a deep depression. (Writing is what makes me whole. Without it, I would not be who I am today. And I'm not afraid to say that I was born to create! Isn't everyone?) Well anyway, enough about me. What I'm trying to tell you, is that it's okay to make mistakes in writing. It's forgivable and not embarrassing at all! I can guarantee that most of the world's most famous authors have developed Writer's Block, committed 'competing' and have made many other mistakes in their writing. Making mistakes when writing is what makes us successful because we learn what our mistakes are and how we can overcome them and see them as something that strengthens us and our writing: a pathway to success. Making mistakes is what makes us human.

5.  Something that I recommend you think about is: what you write reflects who you are. If you write about death and murder, you are most likely depressed and/or a very cynical person. If you write about romance and happiness, this could mean that you long for love and compassion with other people or that you are a very cheery person. It all adds up to who you are. That is why you should let your writing flow from your core. You should not echo another author's core and who they are. In my opinion, writing is a personal hobby or career for every person. It is your creation.
 
That is all for now. If I think of anymore solutions, I will add them to this list! :) I really, really, sincerely hope that these listed solutions work for you. They worked for me. I want to help those who are suffering what I have suffered. 

Gemma Out.

Who are you listening to?

Well, I think that it would probably be best if you knew a little more about me. It's easier to understand someone and their sentiments when you know more about them.

Well, this may come as a little bit of a shock: I am fifteen years old. I have not completed my GCSEs yet but I will do next summer. Scary stuff, huh? Well anyway, I don't want to drone on about myself so I'll just keep it short.

Ever since the first long book I read, Shiver (by Maggie Stiefvater), I have been a writer and a reader. I drifted away from expressing my creativity through drawings and pretty colours. I went to something more sophisticated: writing. Constantly, I was getting told how good I was at English by my English teacher. I wish he hadn't ever done that because he made me vain and egocentric when it came to writing. I was very, very confident. I was over confident. I know my English teacher was only being a teacher - being a man who is proud of his student's success and hard work - but when I got out into the real world of education, it hit me: I never was really that good at English. I may have been the "best female writer" at my secondary school, but when I moved to my high school, I was only good. I can write. I can grip people with my writing. I can evaluate poems and pieces of writing. But I was only "good". I wasn't excellent or outstanding. How arrogant I was! I didn't even see it.

So when I realized the true extent of my "excellency at writing", I went through major depression. I developed Writer's Block over a few months. I couldn't even write a paragraph. Whenever I came up with a good idea for my story, I savoured it, I laughed with tears, clinging onto that feeling that I have created something! with my fingernails. 

After months of feeling worthless and depressed, I realized that I had GCSEs to think about, future careers, goals, a new beginning of life ahead of me. I knew I shouldn't be moping around, wishing for something that I would never get if I carried on acting the way I was. So I let go of writing. I knew I would return to it. One day. But I had to let go in order to seize my goals in school. It took a great deal of hard work weaning myself off writing. But I did it! Soon, I turned to reading. I read a lot of books. One book: "The Dark Heroine: Dinner with a Vampire." It inspired me so much that I could actually consider writing. I longed for it. So I did. I began writing and writing and writing. Before I knew it, my story had developed so much! I was so happy! And my Writer's Block is gone. Sometimes I feel like nah, can't be bothered anymore with it. But then I think about how long it's taken me to get to where I am. I could actually finish the book!

So - sorry for the babbling! - you can probably guess what my passion is: writing books. But my goal in life so far is to: actually finish a book! ...and pass all my GCSEs of course :)! 

I don't know what else you might find in me...I think I've all that's relevant in the paragraphs above. I know I shouldn't say this but I am overall a boring person. I'm the sort of person you'd meet and think, 'I can't imagine her having a life.' I've thought that about other people before too! So I'm not angry, I'm just accepting. I'd like to interest people - to not come across as "boring" and "dull" one day. I would like to become known through the writing I create. Just as I'm sure you want to become :) Otherwise you wouldn't have visited this website.

Yeah, basically I am your average teenager - used to think I was amazing - and fell back down to earth with a nasty thud, went through depression - don't we all! - and picked myself back up. 

And this is my blog! :) Hope you absorb from it what you need. 

Gemma Out.