One of them is knowledge. It seems like we should know what we are getting ourselves into, right? Who respects a writer who seems aloof and doesn’t know what’s going on?

Another quality we prize is humility. Surely we don’t want to become one of those writers who have a pretty high opinion of themselves, right?

There is some truth in that. But there is also something to be said for going ahead and doing the work even though we don’t have it all figured out. There is something to be said for having a pretty good amount of confidence in who we are and what we have to say.

It’s a balance, to be sure. But so many writers are timid and unsure that perhaps a good old-fashioned attitude of “I don’t know and I don’t care” would do us some good now and then.

Or as Steven Pressfield wrote in his fantastic little book, Do the Work: “Ignorance and arrogance are the artist and entrepreneur’s indispensable allies. She must be clueless enough to have no idea how difficult her enterprise is going to be—and cocky enough to believe she can pull it off anyway.”

It’s OK not to have everything figured out. It’s OK to be confident and courageous. You’re good enough. You’re smart enough. And if you stick with it, you’re gonna make it.

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We can all think of times when we have shrunk back and didn’t work toward those goals. Why not? Is it laziness? Lack of discipline? A lack of talent?

No, it’s usually just self-doubt. Even if the logical side of our brains tells us we can achieve it, self-doubt creeps in and we hold back. The novelist Sylvia Plath once said, “And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.”

Self-doubt seems like a relatively mild concept, but let’s call a spade a spade. Self-doubt is just fear in disguise. We don’t doubt ourselves because of any rational thought process. We’re just plain old scared of failing.

So, take courage. If you’re working on a big goal and you have a good plan for achieving it, don’t get sidetracked by negative emotions.

That fear you’re feeling is just a ghost, a mirage, a phantom. There’s nothing it can do to hurt you, and if you ignore it, it will eventually go away and haunt somebody else.

Question: Are you holding back from accomplishing a goal that’s important to you? What would it feel like to start moving toward it even though you’re afraid?

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One of the most famous movies of all time, and what many consider to be the greatest movie of all time, is 1941’s Citizen Kane, starring Orson Welles. While it is certainly a great movie, and one of my personal favorites, it tends to overshadow Welles’ other great movies.

One of them is The Third Man, released in 1949 and starring Orson Welles and Joseph Cotten, among others. The Third Man is a British film noir set in postwar Vienna. The story centers around a writer named Holly Martins, played by Joseph Cotten, who has come to Vienna to work for his friend Harry Lime, played by Orson Welles.

However, when Harry Lime arrives in Vienna, he discovers that his friend Harry Lime has been killed in an auto accident. He is suspicious of the circumstances and decides to stay in Vienna and investigate.

Orson Welles doesn’t appear until halfway through the movie. Holly Martins is stumbling around the streets of Vienna. He sees a man standing in a doorway, mostly obscured by shadows. He thinks the man in the doorway has been tailing him, and he coaxes him to come out.

Suddenly a women turns on an apartment light above the street, and Martins sees that it’s his friend Harry Lime. After a few moments, the light goes out again, and Lime steps out of the shadows and goes running, with Martins chasing him. It’s one of the famous and enigmatic character entrances in this history of cinema.

Holly Martins was the writer character in The Third Man, but ironically, a lot of real-life writers mirror Harry Lime. He was a guy who loved to stay hidden in the shadows. He didn’t even make an appearance until halfway through.

I find that a lot of writers, especially those in mid-life or later, prefer to stay hidden in the shadows. They have a lot of fear. What if they put their work out there? What if they step out and show the world their talent? Will people like me or accept me? What happens if I succeed? What if, what if, what if?

Well, the truth is that you will never know until you decide to step out of the shadows and see for yourself. Most people stay hidden in the doorways of life, never stepping out into the brave, wonderful world that lies just beyond our comfort and safety.

But when you do, you will find yourself in for the ride of a lifetime.

Daily Question: Have you stepped out of the shadows as a writer, and are you willing to make yourself known so you can impact others with your creative work?

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It’s not unusual for writers to remain hidden. There is something about writing that attracts people who don’t want to be on camera, on stage, or behind a microphone.

The writing world is also home to many ghostwriters, who by definition are hidden behind someone else’s name. And then there are novelists, who create characters and worlds that exist apart from the writer’s identity.

All of this is well and good. If you’re a writer who likes to stay a little bit hidden, more power to you. That being said, I challenge you to let the world see your true self a bit more. Even though you might feel more comfortable staying hidden, what would it feel like to challenge yourself and put your voice and face out into the world a little more? Is there perhaps something you’re missing by indulging your shyness?

E. B. White said, “All writing is communication; creative writing is communication through revelation—it is the self escaping into the open. No writer long remains incognito.”

You’ve made a difference with your words. Now imagine the even greater difference you can make when you take a step outside your comfort zone. This might mean doing podcast interviews, creating videos, or even hosting your own show.

By challenging yourself and coming out into the open a little more, you might encourage someone else to step outside of their comfort zone as well. Strange and wonderful things happen when we confront fear and do the thing we’re afraid to do.

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To finish means to publish and to put your work out there in the world for others to judge and critique. The thought of people judging your work is just too much for some writers to handle. So, they accumulate lots of half-finished books, articles, projects, and other content that takes up space on a hard drive or in a desk drawer.

Sometimes we think that being a writer means to be constantly gaining new ideas and exploring creative possibilities — which is true. Those things are important. But those ideas and possibilities must live somewhere. They need an outlet.

Here is a challenge that will help you develop confidence and momentum: finish something and publish it. Be done with it. Set it out into the world to help readers, no matter how many or how few.

Neil Gaiman said, “You have to finish things — that’s what you learn from, you learn by finishing things.” Maybe you have always seen yourself as a person who never finishes. But you can change that perception by taking back control of your writing life and finishing the darn thing.

You can change how you see yourself and how you talk to yourself. Lots of people start but far fewer actually finish. Be part of that elite group and finish what you’ve started.

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