No matter how long you’ve been writing, we all have days when we don’t feel confident in our skills. That lack of confidence can lead to a terrible cycle: I’m awful at writing, I should just quit writing all together, maybe I’ll pick it back up, jeez, I suck. I’ve been a victim of this cycle, and it’s no fun.

I’ve come to learn that you have to build up confidence in yourself and your skills. It’s a thing that’s easier said than done. But it’s important if you want to grow as a writer. I’ve been able to grow my confidence through five essential practices, and I wanted to share them with you.

1. Just Write
2. Read What You Write
3. Invest in Your Skills
4. Find a Community
5. Accept Failure

Over the next few posts, I will talk about each of these practices in length and how you implement them in your daily life. For now, lets touch on them briefly.

#1 Just write

If there is one thing I’ve learned from living my fabulous life as a writer and watching the Margret Attwood’s Masterclass trailer (yes, just the trailer), it’s that you become a writer by writing. To feel truly confident in your ability to craft a poem or a story, you have to sit down and just write. You don’t have to dedicate hours on end to write your novel. Be the tortoise and don’t mind the hair. Start small and build up slowly. Find a spare five minutes to jot down the words in your brain and do your best to be consistent.

#2 Read What You Write

Familiarize yourself with the work that exists in your genre. It’ll help you get a clearer picture of what aspects of the genre you like and which you don’t. It’s also a good source of inspiration.

As a cherry on top, you may even find writers who make you go: Wow, that was terrible. At least I know I can write better than that person. Not to be mean, but there is a bit of satisfaction that comes with that, haha.

#3 Invest in Your Skills

Find and invest in opportunities that will help you develop your writing skills. See if there are any writing workshops being held in your area or online. Purchase/barrow a book on your craft. Here are some examples of books that have helped me with mine:

• Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon
• Atomic Habits by James Clear
• Aristotle’s Poetics for Screenwriters: Storytelling Secrets from the Greatest Mind in Western Civilization by Michael Tierno
• Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style by Benjamin Dreyer
• On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King

#4 Find Your Community

Whether it’s online or in person, being a part of a writing community that meets regularly can greatly increase your confidence, especially if that writing group is specific to your genre. It’s also a great opportunity to meet a wide range of people who are at different stages of their writing journey. You’ll get to learn from each other and teach each other about what you uniquely know about the craft, which can be a huge confidence booster.

#5 Accept Failure

I think above all else, it’s important to know that you are going to have bad days. It’s inevitable. You will get criticism after criticism. Rejection after rejection. And that’s ok. I think it is important to know that everyone has experiences with failure—writers and people in general. The idea is to accept failure as it comes, feel it, live in it, learn from it, and keep growing.

There will be some days when it’s hard to feel confident in your writing, no matter what you do. Your inner critic can be overbearing. But the idea here is to never let your inner critic win. No matter what, keep coming back to the page. After all, you are only a writer if you write.