Have you given up on your dream?

I first sent this email in 2021, but it is still relevant to share today:

I almost walked away from my new book. Not forever—I would have come back to it, eventually—but we almost went on a looong break. Because things got hard.

In case you didn't know, I'm a perfectionist AND an Enneagram 4. This combination means when things don't go right, when I don't do things right, I slip into the dark hole of my Fourness and wallow in despair.

So when I realized I needed to start over on my worldbuilding, I found myself standing on the edge of that familiar pit, about to throw myself in.

But I had a deadline.

I'd paid good money for my coach to give me feedback on my story. And while I easily give up on myself, I find it much hard to renege when someone else is expecting something of me. (Was anyone else a good student for this exact reason?)

So even though I doubted my own storytelling abilities, and the thought of starting over on my worldbuilding felt monumental and I procrastinated until the very last moment, I did it—I worked on my story.

And guess what?

It wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be. In only a couple hours, I’d built a new foundation for my world.

You see, it wasn't the story itself that was hard, it was my belief in myself.

On my own, I get overwhelmed. I've said more than once during this book-planning process, "Why am I doing this to myself?" It all just feels…monumental, and I doubt I have the ability to tell a good story.

But as my coaching friend, Heather Campbell, reminded me, just because something is hard doesn't mean you can't do it.

Writing a book is hard.

Creating deep, authentic characters is complicated. Building a magic system, a world, that makes sense isn't a skill you're born with.

When we run into those challenges in our creative process, it's easy to believe we're not good enough, that we don't have what it takes, and that we should just give up.

We should not give up. We do have what it takes. We can learn the skills we need to repair our story weaknesses. But on our own, those voices of doubt are loud enough to drown out everything else.

When you work with a coach, though, you have another voice shouting that you can do it, you have deadlines forcing you to engage when you'd rather withdraw, and you have the quiet assurance of your coach's belief that your story will become what you want it to be.

That's the magic of having a coach.

Yes, the personalized teaching and feedback are incredible. Yes, the rapid upleveling of your craft is unmatched. But to have someone keeping you from giving up on your dreams? A true gift.

So what about you? Have you walked away from your story because things got hard and the voices of doubt got loud? Do you need help believing in your dream again?

Remember, just because it's hard doesn't mean you can't do it.

P.S. If you're ready to get support in pursuing your writing dream, click here. I'd love to be the voice shouting louder than your doubt.