Tag: Writing

How to Build Confidence as a Writer
Creativity · hypnosis for writers · Hypnosis Programs · Spiritual Mindset · Spirituality · Writing

How to Build Confidence as a Writer

Melissa ConklingLeave a comment

How to Build Your Confidence as a Writer

As a writer, confidence is one of the most important traits you can have. Confidence gives writers the ability to feel safe in telling their stories, to trust in their skills and knowledge, and to speak about their writing with the world in order to promote their books.

While some people seem to be born with plenty of confidence, others take some time to develop the self-assurance they need to share their creativity with the world. Regardless of where you fall on this scale, confidence is something you can begin building now.

Here are 7 ways you can build your confidence as a writer:

  1. Self-Hypnosis for Confidence – Hypnosis can reprogram your mind for confidence by retraining the way you speak to and about yourself, by releasing limiting beliefs, and by increasing positive expectations.
  1. Affirmations – Similar to how confidence can be instilled through hypnosis, affirmations retrain your self-talk, keep you focused on your desired outcomes, and they keep you aware of your thoughts so you can see when doubt and fear are speaking louder than confidence and self-assurance. 
  1. Reevaluate your idea of what constitutes good writing – Many people believe that because they do not have impeccable grammar or spelling, they cannot be good writers. Fortunately, grammar and spelling can easily be changed, corrected, and improved. What is most important it your ability to tell a compelling story and share your unique message.
  1. Share your writing with others – One of the most effective ways to improve your writing is to get feedback on it. In order to get feedback, you have to be willing to share your writing with others. If you keep it locked away in your google docs without anyone else ever laying eyes on it, you are denying yourself positive feedback and praise as well as constructive criticism that will help you become a better writer.
  1. Develop your intuition – If you want to trust yourself more, which is confidence at its core, developing your intuition is a must. When you strengthen this inner knowing, you learn to rely on your instincts as a writer more than research or outside opinions. This builds confidence in your writing and your message that is more solid because it comes from within.
  1. Work with a writing coach – While developing your intuition builds confidence in your writing from within, working with a writing coach will help you learn the skills you may not have on your own. Will they sit down and teach you proper grammar and spelling? No, they are no elementary school teachers. But they will teach you how to structure your story, how to make your writing more compelling, and how to make it as clear as possible for your readers. 
  1. Get yourself published! This may seem like an obvious one. You may be thinking, “don’t you need the confidence so you CAN get published?” and the answer is yes. BUT there are many smaller ways you can get published on your way to publishing your book that will give you a huge confidence boost and some added credibility as a writer. Apply to be a guest blogger with a much larger platform. Submit articles to a publication in your niche. Participate in a collaborative book. When I became published as a contributing author in a collaborative book, it gave me a huge boost in confidence as a writer and in motivation to complete my own book. Now, I’m working on publishing my own collaborative book on the bridge between creativity and spirituality. If you’d like to be a featured author, click here to learn more and apply.

When you build your confidence as a writer, you will finally allow your writing to improve and your career as an author to begin. Confidence allows you to embrace opportunities that arise with enthusiasm and courage. You may even begin to create your own opportunities. 

6 Steps to Spirit Guided Writing
Books on Spirituality · Creativity · intuition · spirit guides · Spiritual Mindset · Writing

6 Steps to Spirit Guided Writing

Melissa ConklingLeave a comment

Spirit Guided Writing is a unique method of connecting with your higher self, spirit guides, and the Universe to improve your creative process from start to finish. As a spiritual seeker, you may have heard of channeled, intuitive, or automatic writing as a means of connecting with the divine for personal growth.

While Spirit Guided Writing incorporates these techniques, its focus is on your creative journey, from receiving inspiration, through the writing itself, all the way to sharing your message with the world. With your spirit team advising your project, your writing becomes more authentic, fulfilling, and aligned with your purpose.

Spirit Guided Writing builds trust and confidence in your writing, which makes the creative process faster, easier, and more enjoyable. The best part about it is that anyone can learn it by following these six steps.

Watch this quick video for the 6 Steps to Spirit Guided Writing:

To learn more about Spirit Guided Writing, download the guide here.

3 Reasons Why Your Book Deserves Its Own Vision Board
Creativity · Free Workshops · Hypnosis Programs · intuition · law of attraction · Manifestation · Spiritual Mindset · Vision Board · Writing

3 Reasons Why Your Book Deserves Its Own Vision Board

Melissa ConklingLeave a comment

Every year for the past decade, maybe longer, I’ve created a vision board. Some years this happened on New Years. Some it didn’t happen until spring started to arrive. Both are great times for creating a vision board because they are times of new beginnings and new life.

Each year, almost everything on my vision board came into my life. In Bermuda, while walking along a tiny road, I came over a hill to see a beautiful bay with turquoise water and pink sand and immediately noticed how similar it was to a photo on my vision board. When I rescued my cat, I looked back and realized how much she resembled a kitten on that year’s board. And when I found myself single again, I got very intentional about what I wanted to feel and experience in my next relationship…and that is exactly how my relationship with my boyfriend is now.

But year after year, there was one goal on my vision board that never seemed to come any closer to manifesting: Writing a Book.

Last, when I made my yearly vision board, I switched it up a bit. In previous years, I had maybe a photo or two indicating my desire to “Write a Book.” This time, however, I took it a step further. I incorporated how I wanted my life as a writer to look and feel. I focused on the finished version – a Spiritual Best-Seller – rather than than the process of writing. 

When I began work on my book, The Creative Alchemist’s Manifestation Method, I wrote out my goals for the book – what I wanted it to look like, how I wanted readers to react and use the book, when and how I wanted to publish it. 

Not too surprisingly, I completed and published the book before the end of the year and it instantly became the #1 New Release in several categories!

If you have a desire to write a book, you owe it to yourself, your audience, and your story to create a vision board specifically for that book. 

Here are 3 Reasons Why Your Book Deserves Its Own Vision Board:

Number 1: Your real goal is so much more than to write a book and a vision board for your book allows you to explore this deeper.

So many of us have the dream to write a book some day. But in reality, it isn’t that we want to write a book. What we really want is to publish a book. To share our story. To make an impact on our readers by sharing the lessons we’ve learned in our lives. 

When we set our intention to “write a book,” the universe is listening. What it hears, is that you want to write. This can lead to a long, drawn out writing process that seems never-ending…because writing was the goal. 

Instead, when you shift the focus to the end goal – publishing your first book, becoming a best-selling author, getting a multi-book deal, you set the intention to not only write your book, but to complete it and share it with the world. 

Number 2: A vision board for your book supports your long-term vision as an author 

When you commit to becoming a published author, your life can change in many ways. As an entrepreneur, publishing your book gives you more authority in your niche, which can expand your business in a big way.

You may go on to write several books and build a career around your writing.

You may go on to help other writers publish their books as well.

Incorporating these next-level goals into your vision board support your desire because it gets you thinking about not only writing the book, but how your life will be when the book is completed.

And Number 3: A vision board keeps you focused and inspired when you feel unmotivated. 

Let’s face it. Motivation comes and goes with anything, writing included. Even if you absolutely love writing and your book flows out of you with ease, eventually, you move on to the next steps. Editing, formatting, proofreading. What I call “the boring part.” And because it isn’t as fun for me as writing, it was the part of publishing my book that slowed me down the most. 

Knowing my vision for my book beyond the writing itself kept me focused and brought back my motivation when it began to wane. 

A vision board helps you send this message to the universe and is a constant reminder of your intentions. 

If you are ready to create a vision board for your book, join me Sunday, January 28th for the hands-on virtual workshop, Vision Board Your Book.