Fake It 'Til You Make It: The Writing Advice Nobody Wants to Hear

Fake it 'til you make it.

What a trope.

But after 38 years in publishing, I believe it completely. Especially when it comes to writing.

I have watched more talented people than I can count talk about their book for years. They have the idea. They have the expertise. They have the story. What they don't have is the nerve to sit down and begin. They're waiting to feel ready. They're waiting to feel confident. They're waiting for the moment when the words will come easily and the whole thing will flow.

That moment is not coming.

Here is what I know after nearly four decades of working with writers: confidence rarely comes first. It comes after. It comes from the act of writing itself, from the slow accumulation of pages, from watching something that didn't exist before begin to take shape. But you cannot get there without starting, and starting is the hardest part.

So my advice is this: fake it.

Make yourself act like a writer. Sit down at your desk, open a document, and fill a page with words. Any words. Imperfect words. Words you will revise later, words you may throw out entirely. Give yourself the grace to put them down anyway, because only then is there something to work with.

The writers I've seen succeed aren't the ones who waited until they felt ready. They're the ones who sat down anyway, held their nose if they had to and began by putting words to the page. They were able to put aside their disbelief because they trusted that the writing and the confidence would grow together.

And they do. Every time.

The first draft of anything is not supposed to be good. It is supposed to exist. That is its only job. Once it exists, you can shape it, improve it, cut it, rearrange it. You can hand it to an editor who will help you see what you couldn't see on your own. But none of that is possible until you have a draft. And you don't get a draft by waiting to feel inspired. You get a draft by showing up and writing badly until you start writing better.

I think about this often when I talk to the authors we work with at Bold Story Press. So many of them come to us having carried their book around in their heads for years. The idea is fully formed. The need is real. The only thing standing between them and the book is the act of beginning. And what I tell them is what I'm telling you now: the bar for the first draft is simply that it exists. That's it. That's the whole assignment.

The first draft isn't a finished book. It's simply the beginning of one.

And that one beginning, however messy, however imperfect, is more than most people ever manage. It means you showed up. It means you're a writer.

So sit down.

Fake it.

Write.

If you've been carrying your book around in your head and aren't sure how to begin, I'd love to talk. Read more about how we work with authors at Bold Story Press, join one of our free publishing webinars, or reach out to me directly at Emily@boldstorypress.com.