After I completed my very rough draft of the book, I started to go back and do a self-edit. I have never felt so many different emotions in such a short amount of time.
I was warned that this process was going to be tough, but I had no idea what I was in for. I would go from extreme highs of “Wow! I actually wrote this?” to extreme lows of “Wow! I actually wrote this.”
It was very revealing on how I had so much to say about a particular topic and yet how difficult it was for me to get my thoughts across the first time around. It made me pause and reflect on how it is I show up when I talk to other people.
Do I have conversations that are really this confusing and disjointed, or is this just something I do with myself?
I realized how grateful I was for spelling and grammar checking, because there were a lot of mistakes. I anticipated that potential because honestly, writing in the past was challenging and I am still learning a lot about how to write well.
The entire process of going through the self-edit took me over a week and half. I couldn’t get through very much at a time because I would either get a little discouraged or mentally exhausted from going back through my writing.
But I prevailed and made it through the self-edit. I then went back through a 2nd time to see if the content flowed, and for the most part it did. It was at this moment that I really started to believe that this was going to happen.
I am really starting to think of myself as a writer and an author, which is something I don’t think I ever would have thought even just a few years ago. I’ve wanted to write a book for a long time, but would always stop myself from starting due to a lot of self-doubt.
I wonder how many other things I am not doing because of some underlying self-doubt?
This has been coming up for me during this process as well. Building my confidence in something that I have historically struggled with is starting to enhance other areas of my life. An interesting byproduct that I didn’t expect.
Anyway, with the self-editing done, it was time to start thinking about what the title & subtitle of the book was going to be. I will chat next time about this, but in the meantime…
What things are you stopping yourself from doing due to self-doubt? I would love to hear from you, comment below or send me a PM.
#myfirstbook #selfpublishing #innerharmony #harmony #selfdoubt
Steve Beauchamp 