Writing With Confidence

What do you love about the male lead in a romantic movie? Among other things, his confidence.

What do you see in any successful model? Confidence.

What do you notice in every successful businessman and businesswoman? Confidence.

But we can’t always see in ourselves the confidence that others see in us.

Have you seen the James Stewart movie Harvey? Harvey is invisible to everyone but James Stewart’s character. He can’t understand why everyone else doesn't see Harvey because, to him, Harvey's as real as they are.

If we took that invisible friend scenario and flipped it on its head, we would be able to see how some creative people see themselves.

Confidence is the Harvey in many artists’ lives, except that it’s the others who see Harvey. The artists look in the mirror and don’t see him at all.

Many creative people (novelists included) are able to pour themselves into their work with great power and confidence, and then they back away to look at it and doubt its greatness. Others see the power and confidence in the work, but the artist doesn’t.

If only we could see what others see in us.