Has your confidence taken a knock at some point?

Maybe someone's feedback on your work was harsh, overly critical, or just plain unkind ... and you're struggling to get past that.

Or perhaps you've had your writing rejected or suffered some other kind of knock-back.

It could simply be that you've been discouraged by other people's views. Whether it's "you have to be a celebrity to make money selling books" or "there'll soon be no writing jobs left, AI is taking over", people's (often uninformed!) opinions about the writing industry can be really disheartening.

When you're not feeling confident, it's easy for writers to suggest that you just need to put your work out there into the world ... that eventually, you will build an audience and see success. But the thought of that can be so daunting and it's easy to end up frozen in place, struggling to write at all.

Here are some small, safe ways to build your writing confidence.

1. Recognise That It's Okay (and Normal!) to Find Writing Hard

When something's hard, it's easy to think we're doing it wrong. Surely, good writers find it easy?

That's not the case. Some writers find the process easier than others, and most of us will have certainly aspects of writing that come fairly easily to us ... but I think almost every writer finds some part of writing hard.

2. Give Yourself Time to Have Fun With Writing -- Just for Yourself

Writing can be (and should be!) fun, at least some of the time. If writing feels like a difficult or even dreaded chore, it's going to be hard to keep going.

Give yourself some time to just enjoy writing. You might explore a writing prompt, write poetry, keep a journal, or do pretty much anything that involves putting words on the page without any idea or expectation that other people will read them. This is just for you.

3. Edit and Polish Something You've Already Written

Some writers doubt their own abilities because they compare their early draft material to other writers' published work. When you pick up a book, you're getting a piece of work that's been self-edited and that has, in most cases, also been improved by at least one other editor.

Give your work a fair chance. Spend some time editing and polishing an existing piece. You may find that your draft was better than you remember. You might also discover that you feel a lot more confident about your work once you've had a chance to hone it.

4. Share a Small Part of Your Work WIth Someone You Trust

You don't need to send your work to editors or enter writing competitions or start a blog ... all of those things are great, but you may feel you need to build up your confidence a bit more first.

Start by sharing a small part of your work with someone you trust to be kind and thoughtful in their response. You might share a scene of your novel, part of an article you're working on, or a passage from your memoir. Ask them to tell you what they liked about it or what they think is working best.

5. Read About Other People's Honest Experiences of Writing

Some writers never breathe a word about their own doubts and insecurities ... but others are quite open about their struggles. Here's a powerful post from author Joanna Penn, sharing how many writers (even highly successful ones) struggle with self-doubt. She writes:

"I feel waves of self-doubt on a regular basis. It comes through if I second-guess my first draft writing and let my internal editor start work before I finish the draft."

Knowing that other writers struggle with self-doubt can help normalise it, making you feel less alone. It can also be reassuring to know that self-doubt doesn't mean there's something wrong with your writing.

If you're struggling with a lack of writing confidence, I want you to know that I'm rooting for you. 

Like almost all writers, I expect you'll continue to have moments of self-doubt ... but I hope you can gradually, gently build up your confidence so that those worries aren't getting in the way of enjoying writing and reaching your goals.