Why You’re Not Writing (and What To Do About It)
Let’s talk about that book you want to write.
Maybe you’re not finishing it. Maybe you haven’t started at all. Either way, this isn’t going to be structured into some perfect little PowerPoint presentation. I just want to talk to you about what is actually holding you back.
Watch the video here:
You might be thinking: I don’t know how to do it.
And there is some truth to that. You might not know how to do it.
But what’s underneath that is something else. It’s self-doubt. It’s lack of confidence. It’s fear that you’re going to screw it up. And if that’s where your focus is, then of course you’re not going to take action.
When I first started writing, I didn’t know anyone who had ever written a novel or been published. But I found a group of writers, and we would meet, and “real” authors would come in and talk about how they got published.
What that did for me was give me belief. Hearing that other people had done it made me realize it was possible for me. And that’s something you might be missing right now.
There’s also something else I want you to consider. When you see someone doing something and it lights you up, that’s not random. If you see someone publish a book, or build a writing career, and it excites you, that’s a clue.
Not just that you want it, but that you’re supposed to do it.
So let’s come back to the question: Why are you not writing your book?
It’s not because you don’t know how. It’s because your focus is on I might mess this up or I don’t know what I’m doing, instead of I’ll figure this out or I’m curious what happens next.
The words we say to ourselves matter more than anything else.
One of my favorite things I used to do was go to the bookstore and walk over to the letter L. I would find Lora Leigh and say to myself, my book is going to be right here. I kept that vision in front of me. I also kept a Post-it note on my bulletin board that read, I am a great writer. Every time I doubted myself, I came back to that.
“If you don’t believe, you won’t keep going.”
Because if you don’t believe, you won’t keep going.
If you want to be a bestselling author, you have to become her now. Close your eyes, picture her, and ask, what does she do every day? If the answer is she writes, that’s what you do.
But I also want to be honest with you. What got me writing in the beginning was passion. What stopped me later was burnout. I had written 45 books in 10 years, and I was tired.
I had started telling myself different stories. Maybe I’ve written enough. Maybe this isn’t my forever career. And when I believed that, writing wasn’t fun, it was a struggle.
What brought me back wasn’t more information. It was community. Being around other writers, having people who were doing what I was doing, having a space where I wasn’t all alone. That’s what helped me in the beginning, and that’s what made me come back.
“At the end of the day, you don’t need more information. You need a system, and you need support.”
At the end of the day, you don’t need more information. You need a system, and you need support. Because writing a book by yourself, with no proof it’s going to work, is hard.
You need someone to remind you that it’s possible. That you can do this. That you’re not different from the people who have done it before you.
Please choose the belief that gives you the most power. I am a great writer. Put it somewhere you can see it. Because you are going to write the book, you are going to finish it, and you are going to figure it out.
If you want a place where you’re not doing this alone, that’s exactly what I’ve created inside my membership for writers, The Lemmon Society. It’s a place where writers stay accountable, write their books, and stay creatively energized.
Join us. We’d love to see you in there.
xo,
Jessica 🍋