Here is the false belief: “After I have more confidence, I’ll be able to do _______easily.” (Fill in the blank)

That belief is the exact reverse order of cause and effect and a perfect example of “the tail wagging the dog,” and “the cart before the horse.”

As a therapist, I see many depressed clients. In the beginning of our work together, the hardest part is for the client is to realize that they can’t just wait to feel better before they start doing healthy things, like exercise. It’s really difficult because at the depth of their depression they “have no energy” and think they cannot even get out of bed, much less walk around the block.

Unfortunately for them, feeling better only happens after they take actions. And they may never spontaneously “feel like” doing the actions.

The same principle applies to the process of writing. Or anything else.

Here’s a list of things writers  need for their fiction writing: Inspiration, confidence, knowing why you’re writing, knowing how to write, knowing the story, knowing and understanding the characters, having completed research.

And here’s the possible bad news: “Every one of the things above comes to you only in the process of writing. They are the result of writing…The belief that you must have them to begin is the most common mistake of all, and it is fatal. Right here—on the jagged rocks of that false belief—is where most good ideas break up and sink without trace. Inspiration and confidence and conviction and craft and knowledge are not what makes writing possible. It’s exactly the other way around. Writing makes them possible.”

“Productivity is the only path to confidence.”

“Since writing is what generates inspiration—and not the reverse—abundant writing produces abundant inspiration.”

Stephen Koch, The Modern Library Writer’s Workshop: A Guide to the Craft of Fiction (New York: The Modern Library, 2003), 4.