Lacking Confidence?

(photo credit)

I'm in the final stages of prepping my manuscript to be beta read by my trusted writing buddies. My friends know the basic premise of the story, because they've helped me with the query. But the actual manuscript has not been seen by anyone but me.

Guess what I'm lacking? Confidence.

You know that feeling, right? That feeling of fear just before you send that newborn story to have it critiqued. It's a scary step in the publishing process--but absolutely necessary.

*Deep breaths*

When I'm feeling insecure, I like to search for inspiration. Here are some share-worthy quotes about confidence:

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. --Eleanor Roosevelt

It's not who you are that holds you back, it's who you think you're not. --Attributed to Hanoch McCarty

We have to learn to be our own best friends, because we fall too easily into the trap of being our own worst enemies. --Roderick Thorp, Rainbow Drive

It ain't what they call you, it's what you answer to. --W.C. Fields

Whether you think you can or think you can't, you are right. --Henry Ford

I quit being afraid when my first venture failed and the sky didn't fall down. --Allen H. Neuharth

If you hear a voice within you say "you cannot paint," then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced. --Vincent Van Gogh

Don't live down to expectations. Go out there and do something remarkable. --Wendy Wasserstein

A great deal of talent is lost to the world for want of a little courage. Every day sends to their graves obscure men whose timidity prevented them from making a first effort. --Sydney Smith

Friends, do you suffer from lack of confidence when someone else reads your work? Does fear prevent you from sending it out? Did these quotes give you the confidence to send it out anyway? Please share!

Inspiration for Writers (and Graduates!)

Last week we learned that our son was Salutatorian of his 8th grade class. Pretty darn cool. We also learned he had to write a speech over the weekend.

He wanted to write his own speech, which I totally respected. I did help with editing, and with finding inspirational quotes for him to work with. As I read these quotes, I realized they not only applied to business folks, graduates, and life, they applied to writers as well.

I hope they inspire you as much as they inspired us!

I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. -- Michael Jordan

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do, so throw off the bowlines, sail away from safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. -- Mark Twain

Winning isn't everything, but wanting to win is. -- Vince Lombardi

Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right. -- Henry Ford

Everything you've ever wanted is on the other side of fear. -- George Addair

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma--which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary. -- Steve Jobs

When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left and could say, I used everything You gave me. -- Erma Bombeck

Which quotes did my son choose? Um, none of these. He chose the wise words of Spongebob Squarepants and Hannah Montana. After all, he's fourteen.

Have you ever written a graduation speech? Did these quotes spark something within you? Any cool quotes you'd like to share?