Joely Sue Burkhart

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There’s a lot of buzz right now about positive thinking and how visualizing your success will attract positive energy to you. If you dream it, you can achieve it!

But you know what? No amount of visualizing your book on a shelf in Barnes & Noble is going to make that dream come true if you don’t do the work.

Butt in chair. Every single day. Writing.

Writing is a long, hard journey, though. Some days, the dream just isn’t enough to keep us toiling up that gloomy mountain. Instead of throwing our characters to the wolves, those wolves are chasing us. We walk in the Valley of the Shadow of Death with no hope in sight. Doubts assail us on all sides, and the last thing we want to face is that blank page. Some common dark moments we face:

* Rejections stacked in the mail or in box.
* Proposals ignored, buried, or shot down.
* Editors leaving for new lines, houses, or publishing entirely.
* Agent neglect.
* Poor sales.
* Scathing—or sometimes worse, indifferent—reviews.
* No new contracts.

Where’s your positive thinking now?

It’s hard to be positive when slogging through the same scene for days. When constructing every sentence is excruciating. When you’re paralyzed with fear. When you’re bleeding on the page and the damned book just won’t cooperate.

There is a secret to surviving these dark moments. It’s not a magic pill. Dream Agent won’t suddenly call on a whim, drawn by mysterious positive ions. Multi-book contracts won’t magically fall on your doorstep. But if you know the secret—really know it deep in your heart—then these dark moments will not be able to destroy your dream to write.

Are you ready for the secret?

BELIEVE IN YOURSELF.

*crickets chirping*

What? Didn’t I just say that positive thinking wasn’t enough?

It’s not. But the mind is an amazing thing, and if you believe in yourself, nothing can stop you from accomplishing your work. If you allow doubts to crawl in—and negative self-talk to slowly destroy your vision—then it’s much easier to allow the dark moment to suck you down to despair. If you’re in the Valley and all you’ve seen is rain and mud for days or weeks or months, then the work of writing becomes a slow torturous death.

I’ve been there. It isn’t pretty. Lost, confused, afraid, trapped in doubts of my own creation. I’ll be there again. Everybody suffers setbacks and disappointments. Bad things happen all the time, completely out of our control. But we can survive them. We can emerge into the sunshine on the other side, smarter, more successful, and better equipped to handle the next dark moment.

Or do you want to find yourself bitter, disillusioned, and crippled artistically?

It’s your choice.

Many writers talk about voices in their heads, how characters just won’t shut up unless we write down their stories. But listen to that other voice, the still, small one that whispers to your heart. What do you say to yourself when a writing setback occurs?

The truth is that what we say to OURSELVES can be much more damaging than anything a stranger or well-meaning friend could say. Big-Time Agent’s polite “dear author” form letter or your Dream Editor’s pass on your latest opus is simply “no.” It doesn’t mean you’re a hack, a failure, or a wannabe too dumb to quit. If we allow the negative self-talk to play over and over, louder and louder, then pretty soon… We start to believe it.

When you believe you’re a hack, you write like one. And the vicious cycle continues.

Some common negative self-talk to watch out for (many of these I battle myself!):

I Can’t Make It Alone: “I can’t submit this partial until I’ve written it exactly as my fifty critique partners recommend!” Everybody else must be right when they say I can’t do this or that and NEVER this. Right? Wrong!

The Short Cut: “If only I knew so-and-so, she could recommend me to her editor!” There are no free lunches.

The Perfect Plan: “I can’t write until I know everything from point A to point Z including what size underwear the hero wears!” Size does matter, you know. Unless it becomes your excuse.

Name Calling: “All I’ve gotten are rejections, so I must be a failure.” “I didn’t finish my last manuscript, so I’m a quitter.” Sticks and stones, baby.

Doom and Gloom Predictions: “I’ll never final in this contest. Those anal judges always hate my work. So why bother entering.” “My last proposal didn’t sell, so I can’t come up with any new ideas.” Doomed before we start.

End of the World: “If I don’t get a full request from this finalist judge, then he’ll never like any of my work.” “If this editor passes, then I should shelve this book and quit writing entirely.” “This is my best work and it still got rejected. I’ll never sell anything.” One no doesn’t mean never.

Personal Hell: “I can’t write my way out of a wet paper bag.” “I’m as stupid as my TSTL heroines I keep creating.” This voice is even worse than the “internal editor.” Gag that bitch and lock her up far away!

Green Eyes: “It’s not fair that so-and-so sold so quickly or gets so many contracts.” The only writer you need to compete with is yourself.

When the negative self talk begins, challenge it. Is it true? Is it helping you meet your goals of being a writer? Can you turn it into something positive?

Let’s face it. Some days we want to strangle Pollyanna and feel more like Chuckie. We don’t always feel confident. We don’t always feel like writing. During these “down” times, it’s all the easier to play the negative self-talk reel in your head.

Instead, protect your confidence. Tell yourself GOOD things instead of dwelling on the negative. It will make that daily grind through the crazy publishing world that much easier to bear.

If you truly believe that you have a special voice with a unique story to tell, then you write with authority and your story will resonate with power.

So what negative things have you told yourself as a writer—and how are you going to shut that voice up?