One of our trainees at The Sparkle Writer’s Hub just concluded her one month training program with us.
During my coaching session with her, she told me how she has already created a blog and she has written a story broken down into four series which she plans to put on the blog…eventually.
“Eventually?” I asked.
“Yes, eventually. I don’t think it is ready,” she replied.
I laughed and then I asked her a question, “Why don’t you think it’s ready?”
“I don’t know. It doesn’t just feel like something for a blog. There is a way stories on blogs are written, a special way.”
I had to laugh again at her response.
I knew what the problem was. She didn’t trust her voice.
She didn’t trust that her story was good enough to be published despite the fact that over the four weeks of her training with us, her writing had improved a great deal.
You may be the best writer the world has ever known. You may even be better than the great writers that we know today, but if you do not learn to trust your talent, then you may never reach the height of your greatness.
I like to compare the words you write to the way you speak. We all have the unique way we speak. That’s why even if the room is dark and someone familiar speaks, you will be able to say, “Ah, that is person so and so speaking.”
It’s the same thing with writing.
You have your unique way of writing. I have mine. Just as your voice is not superior to mine when you speak, the way you write is not superior to the way I write.
You have a unique writing voice that can bring you to greatness despite the fact that it does not look like the writing voice of the best writer that you know.
You simply need to be confident in your ability to write.
Trust your voice. No one will do that for you and be ready to learn.
I look back at some of the articles that I wrote four years ago and I cannot believe I wrote them. Why? It’s because I have grown. My writing had improved with time. My writing voice is more defined and pronounced. I have a better idea of why I am writing and who I am writing to.
I love Chimamanda. I adore Emily Bronte. I swoon whenever I read any of the classical authors.
But I am not them. I cannot write the way they do or they did. I can only write the way Adedoyin writes and that in itself is good enough for me.
Will you make mistakes in your journey as a writer? Of course you will. But you will learn from those mistakes and get better.
It all starts with you believing in yourself.
Trust your own voice and use it. It is a very powerful voice.