“The Worst Enemy to Creativity is Self-Doubt” — Sylvia Plath

Here’s how to send your inner critic to sleep

Photo by Antonino Visalli on Unsplash

Dynamic poet Sylvia Plath suffered from self-doubt, and she’s not alone. Many writers experience the same complaint. You might be an experienced writer with imposter syndrome. Or an emerging writer with angst. Either way, self-doubt can affect you. It impacts your happiness and behavior. So, delving into doubt and addressing it is worthwhile if you hope to get ahead.

Even if you don’t doubt your writing ability, other aspects of being a writer might faze you. Take self-promotion, for example. Any creative career involves being your agent to an extent. You may promote your new book, website, or articles via a website or social media platforms. And if so, you must toot your horn rather than shy away like a blushing flower.

I’ve met many writers who create excellent work but can’t face self-promotion. Sometimes, they lack the know-how. At other times, they aren’t comfortable endorsing themselves. They’d rather talk about the virtues of tinned beans than tell the world they can write.

But self-doubt also creeps into writers’ mindsets before promotion’s necessary. It starts as they sit in front of a computer screen when self-talk says, “Don’t bother.”.