Welcome to Nothing but the Words.
I’m your Author Coach, Candice L Davis.
This is episode number one, so I’m going to give you the very first thing you need to write a great book. In today’s episode, I’m going to tell you how to develop your belief and confidence in your ability to write a great book.
If you’re struggling to write your book, I want you to know, that’s perfectly normal. In my work as a ghostwriter and co-writer, I’ve written 18 books and counting. But it took me years to write the first one. I was so caught up in self-doubt and perfectionism that I just couldn’t bring a book to completion.
What finally got me to write the first one, from beginning to end, was the threat of hunger.
Since then, in addition to the 18 books I’ve written for myself and for clients, I’ve edited many books, and coached even more people to become successful authors.
All of those authors have gotten stuck at some point, but I’m going to give you some easy ways to get unstuck, get over writer’s block and write a great book.
The world needs your story or your knowledge, and the truth is that writing a book is a skill you can master. Whether you’re just getting started or you’re stuck somewhere in the middle, you can get writing again and write a great book.
Challenge any negative beliefs you hold about writing a book. This is an ongoing practice. You’ll have to choose thoughts that support your goal of writing a great book and question thoughts that contradict it. (It’s hard to take action when you don’t believe you can get the results you want, so work on believing it.) Thought download. Question each thought. Is it true—provable beyond reasonable doubt? What if it’s not true? Is there another possibility?
Acknowledge your gifts and talents and the things you’ve learned, mastered, and accomplished. Find evidence for your ability to learn new things and do things well. (We do hard things in this family.) It’s great to do this on paper too.
Find resources that will help you learn how to write a book. (The folly of thinking you should know how to do something you’ve never done.)
Take action and start proving to yourself that you can do. This may be the best evidence of all. (30-day juice feast)
Your action step for today is to make a list of everything stopping you from writing your first book or your next book and use one of these strategies to deal with it.
Challenge your negative beliefs.
Acknowledge your gifts, talents, and accomplishments.
Look for resources to help you shore up your weaknesses and learn how to write a great book. (If you’re writing non-fiction my group program, Short Books Big Results, can provide the support you need. Find it at candiceldavis.com/shortbooks
Start taking action to write your book.
I’m Candice L Davis, your author coach, and I’ll see you next time on Nothing but the Words.