Lost Writing Confidence? — My Writing Hack Part 1

Do you ever struggle with your writing confidence? I think all writers occasionally battle with a lack of confidence, fighting back the thoughts of “Oh, I’m not good enough,” or “Nobody will read what I wrote” or “I can’t do what I could before.” What causes that loss of confidence in writing, and how can we overcome it?

Lack of Writing Confidence Cause and Effect

Realize writing confidence is NOT the same as writing fear, which I wrote about earlier. Understanding why we as writers can sometimes lose our confidence is vital to gaining it back. Based on my own experience as a writer with more than three decades of writing behind me, here are some reasons we might find ourselves missing writing confidence:

• We’re given a writing project we’re not familiar with. Maybe we’ve been researching and pounding out white papers, and we’re suddenly asked to put together a grant proposal. If panic doesn’t set in, then at the very least we might think “Can I do the unknown?”
• We’re given a topic we’re unfamiliar with. As I’ve written elsewhere, we spend time becoming subject-matter experts (SMEs) about topics and activities we’re passionate about. If I’m writing training manuals and technology marketing materials, and someone asks me to set up a social media plan for a small-town fabric store, my writing confidence might, for a moment, be weaker than I’d like.
• We’re out of practice in a particular write mode or style. Maybe at one time we were an expert in ghost blogging and social media but, because of different writing projects we’ve had, we haven’t done that recently. Our writing confidence certainly takes a hit.

Do these sound familiar to you? I know they happen to me … and they impact my writing confidence. But as we know, recognition of the problem is a big part of the solution. Think about if these situations might apply to you. In my next post, you’ll learn how to regain your lost confidence.

Writing Resources:

My next post about regaining your lost confidence will share some writing resources. Meanwhile, you might consider if you just need a writer’s Mindset Reset. From CoachGlue, here’s a great course on getting your mind straight.

If it’s a case of having a shift in your life, consider doing a mega MindShift on Demand, as my friend Donna Blevins writes about in her book? You might want to check it out! Donna’s book helped me a lot (Think: Mind BLOWN!)

(And send me some other reasons you’ve found you’ve lost your confidence. I might write another article on that very topic!)

Write On!

Dave / CyranoWriter

David Kuhns

Dave has decades of writing and editing experience, including: Web content, marketing collateral, marketing, communications and business plans, curriculum development, communications collateral, book ghostwriting and editing, social media, technical writing, blogs, local search engine optimization. Clients have included: AT&T, Microsoft, T-Mobile, and assorted local businesses.