Aiki Flinthart - Author
  • Home
  • BOOKS
    • All Books
    • Relics, Wrecks, & Ruins
    • Blackbirds
    • Writing Craft Non-Fiction books
    • The Kalima Chronicles
    • The Ruadhan Sidhe Series
    • 80AD Series
    • Sold!
    • Short Story Anthologies
    • Other works in progress
  • Bonus Material
    • Story extras - The Jewel of Asgard
    • Story Extras - The Hammer of Thor
    • Story Extras - The Tekhen of Anuket
    • Story Extras - The Sudarshana
    • Story Extras - The Yu Dragon
    • Story Extras - IRON-FIRE-STEEL
  • Warrior Woman Words
  • Workshops
  • Editing & Story Development
  • Media Information
  • Contact details
  • Privacy Policy

Warrior Woman Words

How to get a Blackbelt in Writing - Part 8 - Fear & Self-doubt

1/9/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
 This week I've been suffering - as many of us do - with self-doubt. Is my writing good enough? Why isn't this easier? Maybe my stories aren't being 'seen' by enough people because my writing really is terrible. Our brains are horrible to us.
Many of us are afraid. Afraid to hurt other people. Afraid to try in case we fail. Afraid to throw ourselves into things in case it proves we'll just never be good enough.   It's especially obvious when you get women on the mat in the dojo. Painfully obvious just how socialised they are not to hurt people; not to be physically resilient; not to believe they are capable of mastering something as potentially lethal as a martial art. Women hit you, then apologise all the time. It takes ages to stop that habit.
    But, with time and training, both men and women will learn to overcome their fears in incremental steps, and will become capable martial artists. Often women are better than men because they can't use strength to make techniques work. They have to do it right or it just won't work.
   Mastering a martial art gives people just that little bit of extra self-belief that can be critical in times of stress and fear. In a true fight, self-doubt and fear will cause you to hesitate and you will lose the fight before you even start.
    In writing it's not always so clear when you're improving and succeeding. There are no coloured belts to achieve. It takes every writer time and practice to overcome their instinctive fear of not being good enough - of being judged unworthy. Even the best writers admit they, too, experience bouts of self-doubt.
    It's normal, but they don't let it cripple them or stop them writing. 
  We are a tribal animal. We rely on feedback to know our place in the tribe and to survive as a group. Self-doubt is hardwrired into our brains as part of our need to fit in and survive. Accept that you'll never completely overcome it. Understand why it's there. Let it go as a pointless waste of time. Every little new skill you learn IS improving your writing. If you're learning and thinking about what you want to get across to the reader, then your writing probably is improving, even if you can't see it and don't get a grading certificate.
    You'll never be perfect. Accept that.
​   Use the doubt to improve your skills, but don't let it stop you from writing. 

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Aiki Flinthart

    I live in Australia - which tells you I have a sense of humour.  We're a self-deprecating people, we Aussies.  My aim is to, one day, vanish in a blinding flash of enlightenment.  In the mean time, I'm doing my best to learn as many
     cool and interesting things as I can.

    Archives

    August 2020
    May 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    October 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    January 2017
    March 2016
    November 2015
    August 2013
    July 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

  • Home
  • BOOKS
    • All Books
    • Relics, Wrecks, & Ruins
    • Blackbirds
    • Writing Craft Non-Fiction books
    • The Kalima Chronicles
    • The Ruadhan Sidhe Series
    • 80AD Series
    • Sold!
    • Short Story Anthologies
    • Other works in progress
  • Bonus Material
    • Story extras - The Jewel of Asgard
    • Story Extras - The Hammer of Thor
    • Story Extras - The Tekhen of Anuket
    • Story Extras - The Sudarshana
    • Story Extras - The Yu Dragon
    • Story Extras - IRON-FIRE-STEEL
  • Warrior Woman Words
  • Workshops
  • Editing & Story Development
  • Media Information
  • Contact details
  • Privacy Policy