The AmWritingFantasy Podcast: Episode 33 – Author Self Doubt

You're not the first author struggling with a lack of confidence in your writing or imposter syndrome. Author self doubt is a very common theme.

The good news is that we have a solution for you. Check it out here: https://ultimatefantasywritersguide.com/main 

New episodes EVERY single Monday.

To subscribe on YouTube, go here: http://bit.ly/1WIwIVC 

PATREON!

Many bonus perks for those who become a patrons. https://www.patreon.com/AmWritingFantasy 

LET'S CONNECT!

Closed Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/AmWritingFantasy/ 

Blog and Courses: https://www.amwritingfantasy.com/ 

Jesper on Twitter: https://twitter.com/SchmidtJesper 

Autumn on Twitter: https://twitter.com/weifarer 

Read the full transcript below. (Please note that it's automatically generated and while the AI is super cool, it isn't perfect. There may be misspellings or incorrect words on occasion).

Jesper (1s):
Do you struggle with many of the same things that many other authors do. And that is, uh, how to feel more confident with writing.

Autumn (15s):
If you're a fantasy author, then you've come to the right place. My name is Autumn Birt and gather with Jesper Schmidt. We've published more than 20 novels. Our aim is to help use our experience to help you with writing marketing and selling books to fans all over the world.

Jesper (31s):
So we wanted to try to get in a bit of a quicker widow for you guys today. And the S you can probably see in here, autumn is on the move traveling around. So, so there, there was a bit of wind in the microphone and the audio quality is not the best, but uh, but we hope you can live with that. And we just wanted to, to talk a bit about how to feel more confident with your writing. But before we get into that, we also wanted to shout out a huge thank you to some both existing support us on Patrion who upped their pledge, but also to quite a few new patron supporters.

Jesper (1m 9s):
Uh, so I think you have the names for us. A autumn.

Autumn (1m 13s):
Yes. I want to give a shout out and a huge thank you for your support. It really means so much to us. But bill, moose, beard, Mark Jones, Perry Tomers, Irish, Carrie, Karen Jones, Amelia hay, and Angela Gibson. Uh, thank you so much for joining us. Those who just did recently and for those who author pledge and just for those who have been with us and supporting us on Patreon, we just went through our big first birthday anniversary blowout and it was a lot of fun.

Autumn (1m 44s):
We got some new patrons and met some great people and I really thrilled with the interaction and everyone is really helping us out and lets us know that what we're doing is important to them and helping them to finish and follow their dreams and become better authors and writers and publish. And I love being a part of that.

Jesper (2m 6s):
Yeah, absolutely. It is. We really, really appreciate it. And, uh, it makes a huge difference too to know that you, that you value what we try to put out in terms of advice for you. Uh, every week. So, uh, so thanks a lot. And I also hope you're going to get a bit out of the today's video, although we are going to pitch something for you, but they stay tuned for a second and then it'll make sense. But I think first of all, before we get into that, then we need to talk for a second around what are sort of the main problems that that writers, uh, even if you're a new rider or an experienced one, doesn't matter too much, but, um, what are the main problems that we face in, in terms of, of feeling confident about our writing and, uh, I dunno, I, I made a few notes here autumn but, uh, I don't know if you, if you have some place where you, where you would like to start with, what are of these problems are, how, how should we do this?

Autumn (3m 2s):
Well, I think, um, I would say to me, the top one that always comes to mind, the one that I hear the most of is doubt just what your writing is good enough that anyone's gonna read it. And I think that is, to me, the number one problem next to impossibly consecutive with finding the time to actually write. Those are huge issues for I think every author out there.

Jesper (3m 26s):
Yeah, indeed. Yeah. Yeah. And I had a, I had a few things on my notepad here, so I mean things like, it's sort of a dock tails on what you just said, but, but you know, struggling with how to, how do I know that what I'm writing is good enough, you know, that, that, that it duck tails on the whole feeling, not confident, whatnot. But, but, but I'm more thinking about the actual mechanics of writing here, you know, uh, how, how do I actually write so that I know that I'm doing it well correctly and I'm saying sort of, you know, correctly, it's, it's, it's that can be debated, but, but at least how am I doing it in a way that, uh, that, that works.

Jesper (4m 7s):
Maybe we could put it like that as well. Um, and how do I make it interesting? How do I, how do I turn my story idea into things that I, I mean we've talked about before on how to structure chapters, but, but just in general, how do I turn a story idea into a complete exciting novel where it's actually gripping and it's filled with tension on all those things? Yeah. And then I think also one of the cute issues with, with being writer, being a writer and an author is also the fact that you're doing it on your own.

Jesper (4m 43s):
So it goes on one hand with the fact around worrying on worrying about being confident enough. Because if you win a ordinary workplace, you have colleagues around you and you, you'll probably know whether or not you're doing a good job and your boss will tell you or not tell you, you know, that sort of thing that goes along with the nine to five job. But, but being an a writer, you're writing an entire novel and basically you have no clue if it's good or not.

Jesper (5m 13s):
At some point you would release it and then the readers will tell you, uh, but that's a bit, uh, that's a bit, well, it's shame and a waste of time and whatnot to, to go through all that hassle to write a full novel. It might take you several years, uh, only to learn that people don't appreciate it, that, that's horrible to be honest. So, uh, so I think the accountability partner part is important as well. Meaning that if you had somebody who you could go to with your questions, uh, who you could maybe share in, in a more private forum, you could share some of your writing, you could get some feedback on it if this good or bad, that sort of thing.

Jesper (5m 52s):
And also somebody who could help you along the way to to your finished novel. I think that's, that is a huge problem, that many phase because you're doing it by yourself and you don't have that sort of partner on the site, even if it's like a virtual partner.

Autumn (6m 10s):
Absolutely. I mean, I think, um, having a person, a community, just someone you can go that you trust the you and say, Oh, you know, is this a good idea? Is this a good character? Or how do I develop this? Or I feel lost here. They, like they say the mushy middle. I so many authors just lose track. They want to skip to a new idea, right. Was about, they hit the halfway point and it's such a commonplace to back up and let go of. But to have someone to say, no, you know, you're, you just need to push through this as you hit the climax to have that partner, like you said, an accountability partner that will keep you going, not let you drop another novel that you give up and say, look, you know, that you're writing correctly, that you are doing all the necessary steps.

Autumn (6m 56s):
That's really a huge part of making sure that you're going to get to the end and what you're doing. You're doing it right.

Jesper (7m 2s):
Indeed. Yeah. Yeah. And then this is where the, the pitch part then comes in because it actually just happened. So by complete coincidence here that we actually have something that will solve these problems for you.

Autumn (7m 19s):
We do. We have something that we've put together, I put together originally and then Yesper you've come in and help me work on it. That uh, I went through all this and I saw so many other authors struggling that we created the ultimatefantasywritersguide to really help someone learn how to write, write properly, not get sidetracked, nugget loss of ideas, make sure they're writing some riveting and interesting. Um, and then to know how to market it, how to find fans, how to edit it.

Autumn (7m 51s):
So it's actually interesting I editing, I know the first time I looked at it was like, Oh, this is not, you know, just spellchecking there's so much more to editing and developing a novel after that first draft is done. And then you know, how to the step to actually publish. It's intimidating the first time you upload to Amazon. It's exciting. It's so exciting. But it's also the questions on there when you're like looking at Amazon and people are asking about ISB numbers and all of these questions, knowing what you need to DOH know the file types you need. It's all needs to be put together.

Autumn (8m 22s):
And so we did, we put it all in one spot. We're insane. No, we did this all is one course, but we did. And because of that, um, it's a one stop shop chorus that'll teach you how to write and how to, you know, develop everything into a fantastic novel.

Jesper (8m 44s):
Yeah. So basically when I, what I, what I've just explained was, uh, the details around what the ultimatefantasywritersguide costs has to offer. So on the back end of going through the, uh, obviously, uh, the aim is that you will feel less worried, um, and you will, you can sort of park the feelings about not feeling good enough and you have somebody who will be able to help you. Because as part of the course as well, you are going to get access to both a closed mastermind Facebook group that we run.

Jesper (9m 15s):
Uh, but you're also going to get access to monthly Q and a sessions that we run for only for, for students and, and, and support us on Patreon. So that means that you can push your questions and we will cover them in, in a monthly Q and a or you can show up yourself to the month Q and a and we will have a conversation autumn and I with you to try to answer any questions you might have. If you cannot show up, you can just post them to us, to them in a video for you, which you can watch, watch on your own time.

Jesper (9m 45s):
Um, and basically like that we're trying to help you so that you are not alone and you don't have to be alone in the writing process.

Autumn (9m 54s):
So this course will make sure that you, not only you will have an accountability partner, you'll know what you need to know. So you're not going to have another unfinished manuscript. You're going to know your writing well, you're going to make sure we are going to make sure through the question and answers. We're going to be there to help you to talk to you. Plus the the, the private mastermind group. You're going to have access to other authors who either are going along with you on this journey or Ooh, or who are ahead of you. And like, yes, for an I who have done this, we've seen it.

Autumn (10m 25s):
We know how to help you and make sure that you finish this, Oh no, leave it behind and you'll be successful this time. And that's what this course is all about. And even once you finished how to go on the next step of your career, the Arthur branding, marketing, all those questions, we're still gonna be here. You're going to have lifetime access to us, to those questions to make sure that as your books grow and your platform grows, that you will know what the next step is and you're not lost somewhere along the way and that you can be successful as well.

Jesper (10m 60s):
Excellent. So if this is something you're a bit interested in, at least hearing a bit more about, uh, we have a page for you set up that, I'll put the link to the page in the, in the video description below, or if you're listening on the podcast and it'll be in the show notes. So click through there and have a look at the page. We've, we, there was a video there that goes into more detail about what the cost is about and, and I promise you it's not recorded on the outside and, and, and like this video. So it's good. It's a good quality video where you can probably hear what big things happen.

Jesper (11m 32s):
So go and check it out if you interested. Uh, you should know that the am the costs for this time around, we'll open on the 30th of August, but we only opened the course twice a year. So if you listen to this or what's this before the 30th of August, you can go to that page, you can sign up for the wait list there and then it'll only be like a few weeks and then you will get an email that the courses open and you can sign up. Or if you're watching this way, way later, then that's linked is still applicable.

Jesper (12m 2s):
Still go through to that link that the, that I'm mentioning there that we have a below in the show notes or in the video description because there again there will be a wait list. But of course then you'll have to wait until the next time, uh, that the course opens, which is only as I said, twice a year. So that's how it works. Uh, go and check it out. If you have any questions to any of what you read on that site, uh, that then just ping us, let us know and we will help you out. There's also a Q and a on the page itself that you can read, and you will also notice that there is a ton of very, very cool bonuses linked to the cost that, uh, but there is all listed on that page.

Jesper (12m 42s):
So go have a look and, uh, and see what you think and hopefully, hopefully you heard everything we said here. Okay. Uh, and uh, it comes through. Okay. We do have some, uh, we do have some plans for the future here, but we'll share more about that the next week. But for now, go and check out the course and, uh, we hope that you will find it useful. Well, we hope to see you. Thanks for tuning in and watching us see you next Monday. All right. Stay safe out there and see your next Monday.