Thanks Nelson

Believing in your talent as a writer (or indeed as anything) is not always easy – especially when we live in a world peppered with negativity and criticism. Every writer has days when they think I’m not good enough, who am I kidding? or I’ll never make it, I may as well give up.

My number one aim with the writers I work with is to encourage them to write, write, write. If you want to write, then write – it doesn’t matter how good you think you are, all creativity is important, valid and inspiring. So what if you read it back and it’s nonsense? – that was a good exercise for the next piece. So what if you can’t spell or punctuate? – that’s what copy-editors and proofreafers like me are there for! And so what if your doormat is carpeted with rejection letters? – that doesn’t mean you should stop writing if it’s what you love to do.

When I’m having a my-writing-is-only-fit-for-the-compost-heap kind of day (yes, even professional copywriters get those days), I read the following quote from Nelson Mandela, and somehow it always inspires me.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? . . . Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do . . . It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.