12 Things to Tell Yourself When You Start to Believe You Can’t Actually Do This

1. People who criticize my work just to put me down aren’t worth paying attention to.

2. And just because I receive constructive, negative feedback doesn’t mean I did a bad job.

3. There are always going to be people better and more successful than me. I still matter.

4. If I want other people to be happy for me, I really need to try to be happy for them when they succeed.

5. I want to be a writer. No one is making me do it. This is my dream and I’m not giving up on it.

6. Every writer writes terrible first drafts. What matters most is that I finish it.

7. Everyone doubts themselves. This is normal. There is nothing wrong with my brain.

8. The more I push back against my self-doubt, the easier it will be to get up next time it knocks me down.

9. Today, I did the best I could. Tomorrow, I’ll do better.

10. Every small victory matters, even if I’m the only one who celebrates it.

11. Rejection means I tried. I could have just given up, but I didn’t.

12. The only way to get better at writing is to keep writing, no matter what.

Meg is the creator of Novelty Revisions, dedicated to helping writers put their ideas into words. She is a staff writer with The Cheat Sheet, a freelance editor and writer, and a 10-time NaNoWriMo winner. Follow Meg on Twitter for tweets about writing, food and nerdy things.

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Responses

zaralouki

Mar 24, 2018

Love it !

Reply
1. Meg Dowell
  
  Mar 24, 2018
  
  Thanks! :)
  
  Reply
Live Love Quiz

Mar 24, 2018

I love this! Thank you for writing such inspiring advice. Number 9 is my favorite 😊

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1. Meg Dowell
  
  Mar 24, 2018
  
  You are very welcome! #9 is a good one. ;)
  
  Reply
Adam

Mar 24, 2018

I’m always touched to hear those I admire admit to the same doubts and fears that I struggle with. There’s a wonderful hope that “If my beginning is similar to theirs, it’s not so crazy to think that I can do what they have done.”

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1. Meg Dowell
  
  Mar 24, 2018
  
  Deep down, we all have, or still do, struggle with many of the same things. It really stuck with me awhile back when John Green talked about how much he was struggling to write another book after The Fault In Our Stars. It doesn’t matter how much you’ve written, how ‘successful’ you are, you’re still human. There will always be something trying to hold you back. You might not be able to change that, but you CAN control how you respond to it.
  
  Reply
lynettedavis

Mar 24, 2018

Reblogged this on Memoir Notes.

Reply
Don Massenzio

Mar 25, 2018

Reblogged this on Author Don Massenzio and commented:
Check out this insightful post from the Novelty Revisions blog on the things to tell yourself when you start to believe you can’t actually do this

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Steve Boseley

Mar 25, 2018

Reblogged this on and commented:
Good advice I wish I’d read months ago. I’m going to print this out and pin it over my computer…

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