If you want to avoid failing at writing, then this could be the most important blog post you will ever read. You see, I’ve failed at writing, so I’m highly qualified to tell you what caused me to fail. I’m also highly qualified to tell you how I turned my failure into success.

First, let’s look at the problem. Failure at writing is due to a number of things, but I’ve boiled them down into one single thing:  a lack of belief in oneself.  Bottom line, writers who fail don’t believe they can succeed.

So, let’s say you’re one of those writers who don’t believe you can succeed at writing. Truth is, you’ve got a problem. A big problem. It’s called unbelief, and God isn’t too thrilled about unbelief.  Just check out Hebrews 11:6.  If you don’t solve your problem of unbelief, not only will you fail at writing, but, horror of horrors, you won’t please God.  As far as I’m concerned, nothing could be worse.

Not all that long ago (okay, 30-some years doesn’t seem so long ago), I was in your shoes. I doubted my ability to succeed as a writer. In fact, I couldn’t even call myself a writer. Right there was the single problem I talked about earlier: I didn’t believe in myself.

So what did I do to change things? What did I do to start believing in myself?  I read a Scripture verse that said “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21).  An aha moment!  So, I grabbed hold of my tongue and commanded it to call me a writer.

When people started to ask me what I did for a living, I said “I’m a writer.”  Of course, I nearly choked on the words at first. Calling myself something I wasn’t yet felt like lying, and I abhor lying.

But I had also read Romans 4:17: “God calls those things that are not as though they were.”   Now, I knew for sure that God can’t lie, so I asked Him what He meant by that verse.  He said this verse contains the spiritual principle He used when He created the universe. When God created the universe, He first spoke words and then the words He spoke turned into the substance of the universe.

Another aha moment!  Since I’m made in God’s image, I, too, have to speak words before they turn into the substance of what I want.

So, I wasn’t lying at all. I was simply speaking the truth in advance. I figured if speaking the truth in advance is good enough for God, it’s certainly good enough for me.

So I started speaking words to bring into being what I wanted.  I started calling myself a writer. I started saying that editors were asking me to write for them.  At that point in my career, editors were sending me volumes of rejection letters.

But I kept speaking and speaking and speaking that I was a writer and that editors were asking me to write for them.

A few years went by. I grew more comfortable with calling myself a writer. I started receiving a few acceptance letters. And then, lo and behold, the day came when an editor actually asked me to write for her.

Talk about being excited!  Yes, I was excited about the request to write. But I was more excited at the truth that God’s Word always works if we work it.

What worked for me can work for you, too. To help you, I’ve written a short booklet called Self-Image & the Writer.  It expands in about 10 pages what I’ve discussed in this short blog post.

I’m offering this book to CAN readers free of charge until the end of this week, that is, until midnight Saturday, May 17, 2014 . To download your copy, write to me at maryann@maryanndiorio.com and type "Self-Image" in the subject line. Deadlines will be determined by the send date of your email.
________________________________________
Copyright 2014 by MaryAnn Diorio, PhD, MFA. All Rights Reserved.

Dr. MaryAnn Diorio writes compelling fiction that deals with the deepest issues of the human heart. Her latest release, A CHRISTMAS HOMECOMING, is a story of the power of forgiveness to heal a broken family. Visit MaryAnn at www.maryanndiorio.com.