A little Shakespeare to start the week

This quote stuck with me when I read it, and thought it would be a good way to start off the week:


"Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt." -- William Shakespeare


Don't you just love Shakespeare? Doubts really can be stinkers, can't they? I know they can for me. Even with how much I love my new WIP, doubt is hanging in there every step of the way, with every word I write. "Is this actually a good idea?"... "Am I getting any better as an author?" ... "Does this actually totally and completely suck?" You know, minor stuff. Ha ha.

But I have to shove those doubts away, and keep on keeping on. I'm never going to "win any good" if I let my doubts drive me rather than my hopes, dreams, and ultimately my belief in myself. The ironic thing is that no matter how bad I think I may doing while I'm writing something, I inevitably realize it's much better than I thought when I go back to edit it later. Interesting, isn't it? Sometimes I think doubt is a type of self-sabotage to keep us from achieving something really amazing. Our worst doubts seem to attack at the moments when we are actually creating something that exceeds anything we have created before. Maybe it's because we have to stretch to do it--to get to that next level. So, what do you choose to believe in: the doubts? Or the belief that you ARE talented and worthy and able to create something beautiful/amazing/awe-inspiring/or that-at-least-doesn't-suck?

Doubt or belief, which one do you let drive you? What are your deep thoughts for this Monday morning?

doubt

"Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt." --William Shakespeare

Anyone here ever struggle with self-doubt? Um, ME! ME!

How do I overcome doubt? By forcing myself to take the next step forward. The only way to completely erase your doubts is to prove them wrong. I had many, many times when I doubted if I would ever get an agent. When it got the worst, I would send out ten more queries, or start a new book so I had something new to query soon. I would Keep. Moving. Forward. No matter how paralyzed I wanted to be by my fear, I forced it back by acting like I believed it was going to work. Even when I actually didn't. Does that make sense? It did for me. Did it work? Yes! Eventually. It took time, effort, faith, hard-work, more time, more effort... you get the idea. It took SIX blog posts about "my path to get an agent" worth of time to get there. But I did get an agent.

Now, I have all these doubts about finding an editor who will love my work enough to buy it. So, what am I going to do? Work hard, move forward, do what my agent needs me to do, and keep going until it happens. Then I'm sure I'll have new doubts. Woohoo! So much to look forward to! Ha ha. (Actually, I do look forward to it!)

How about you, what do you do to overcome your doubt?