How Devoted Writers Handle Doubt

by Suzanne Lieurance

Every writer doubts. The ones who have been writing the longest often doubt the most, because they understand more clearly how large the gap is between the vision in their head and what appears on the page.

Doubt is not a sign that you've chosen the wrong path. It's a sign that you care about the work.

The question isn't whether you'll feel it. You will. The question is whether doubt will drive, or whether you will.

Writers who are devoted to their work have usually made a quiet decision about this. They haven't decided never to doubt. That would be impossible and also fairly uninteresting — doubt is part of honest creative work. What they've decided is that doubt doesn't get to determine whether they show up.

They've separated the question of whether the work is good from the question of whether they'll continue.

That separation is powerful. When doubt arrives — and it will, in some form, in every project — it doesn't automatically trigger a crisis. It doesn't shut down the session. It's just one voice in the room, and it doesn't have final authority.

Devoted writers have also learned to recognize doubt's favorite disguises.

Sometimes it sounds like perfectionism: This isn't good enough to be worth continuing. Sometimes it sounds like practicality: Who is this even for? Sometimes it sounds like perspective: Maybe I should step back and reconsider the whole thing. These aren't always wrong — sometimes they're real signals worth listening to. But they're also familiar escape routes, and devoted writers know the difference.

One of the most effective things you can do when doubt surfaces is write through it rather than stop to resolve it.

You don't need to feel confident to write the next sentence. You just need to write it. Confidence, when it comes, tends to arrive from the writing — not before it. The act of continuing, even tentatively, even imperfectly, generates its own kind of momentum.

You can also get curious about doubt rather than combative with it.

Instead of treating it as an enemy to defeat, ask what it's actually pointing at. Is it fear of judgment? Uncertainty about the project's direction? A need for rest? Sometimes doubt is a useful signal. Following it inward can lead to real clarity.

Other times, doubt is just noise. And the most devoted thing you can do is note it, set it aside, and write the next paragraph anyway.

And, if you need help dealing with constant self-doubt as you're writing, join our online writers' community at www.mondaymorningmanifestors.com.

Suzanne Lieurance is the author of over 40 published books and a transformational Law of Attraction coach for writers who are ready to stop waiting to feel like the real thing. At Write by the Sea, she guides writers through the identity shift that changes everything — not just the writing, but the whole life built around it. She is the publisher of Manifesting Monthly magazine and the host of Monday Morning Manifestors.