It's that time again! My newest "Ask the Coach" article is live on ScriptMag. The article is called "How Can I Stop Second-Guessing Myself as a Writer?" In it, I address comments from writers about what they want for their writing.
To wit, readers said:
• “I'd ruminate less and just get down to writing more.”
• “I’d stay focused even with family distractions and self-doubt.”
• “I’d be less dithery.”
• “I’d stop second-guessing myself.”
My response ranged from tackling second-guessing directly to working around it to taking a more spiritual approach. You can click through to the article to read the details.
Here's a summary of the points I wrote about:
- Examine the doubts for their veracity and usefulness.
- Ignore the fears and focus on structure and habit.
- Trust the path, trust the writing, do the work.
Check out the full article by clicking here ⇣

Plus, here are three happy things:
- It's almost Halloween!! We've stalled on putting up our decorations because of pending rain (by the time you read this the threat of rain will have hopefully passed), but this is a favorite holiday for me. We get tons of kids trick-or-treating in our neighborhood (like 300-400, which means the candy funding is intense) and go all-out on decorating, so I'm both a little in dread of the work ahead but also excited for a fun night. I've been building a fun steampunk costume over the last couple of years which makes me happy too.
- My sister came over again (yay!) and we tidied my writing space. It had become the dumping ground for various "to do" items and it was really getting neglected and out of control. (Picture me writing with blinders on, surrounded by clutter, and NOT BEING HAPPY ABOUT IT but doing it anyway). Now, I'm no longer overwhelmed by stacks of paperwork and warranty registrations and kid artwork to scan and yada yada yada and IT FEELS SO GOOD! I'm massively relieved and it feels like a major Clear the Decks success. (There's a free course on this — Clear the Decks For Writing — in my Called to Write community if you want a little inspiration in this department too. I've done a lot of that work already but having my sister here helped me push into the physical clutter that had built up.)
- I'm still reading! I finished reading The Martian* by Andy Weir to my younger child and we moved on to All You Need is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, which was the underlying IP for the movie EDGE OF TOMORROW starting Tom Cruise. I'm doing a LOT of on-the-fly verbal editing with that one, sheesh. I thought The Martian needed a lot. I was wrong, haha. On my own, I'm STILL reading Michael Connelly's Bosch-universe books and my book count is now up to 50 since June 6.
If you're looking for support making writing happen day in and day out — including regular writing sprints — check out my Called to Write Community, now available at a new lower rate: https://calledtowrite.mn.co
If you're looking for developmental editing support, I have space coming up in my editorial calendar for manuscript critiques and script notes in mid-October. https://jennaavery.com/for-writers
* All book links herein are affiliate links for Bookshop, which means I earn a small referral fee
if you purchase from them, and which helps me keep my writing ship afloat. Thank you!
Thank you for reading, and happy writing!
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