To sit down at a desk to write a book seems an insurmountable task to many folk and I’m often asked; ‘How do you do it?’
Well, to be honest, I don’t know! I’ve taken part in a couple of Open University creative writing courses, but with cut-backs and falling student numbers, they led nowhere. To a large extent, I’ve become a pantser, not a plotter, so I don’t really know what’s going to come out of my head until I start typing. I usually know the beginning, the theme, and the ending, but that’s it. I’ve always read a lot, and, of course, I always wanted to write.
I think the power to be a success is in everyone right here, right now. If you constantly think you’re going to be a success, you WILL be. We’re all going to have self-doubts and fears, of course. We wouldn’t be human if we didn’t, but it’s how we deal with them that will affect whether those doubts become a reality. Whatever your goals are, you don’t necessarily have to know how you’re going to achieve them, you just have to believe that you will, and the how will get taken care of.
One thing will always lead to another, and that’s how amazing opportunities happen. How often do you hear of people overcoming amazing odds to gain success or beat incurable health problems? These people knew they could achieve what they wanted and had no doubt whatsoever – that’s the power of positive thinking.
For a time, for a variety of reasons, I was a really negative person. No matter how much I wanted to succeed, deep down I never thought I was worthy of it, and that, in turn, affected the outcome. Now I know different, and I repeat positive mantras to myself every day. Mantras and affirmations are simply thoughts too, and the more you repeat them, the more they get programmed into your subconscious (your own hard drive) and the more they become your belief-system. It’s that simple!
We’re writers, after all, everything we put into our books are our thoughts. We can think up happy, successful lives for our characters, why not do it for ourselves?
The naked truth is that, success is often just a state of mind, and we all have the power to succeed!
Note:“Writers can be divided into two categories: pantsers and plotters. Pantsers write without solid planning while plotters prepare beforehand with extensive outlines.”