Last month I went to see the San Francisco Giants play the San Diego Padres at their home opening game of the baseball season. My friend and neighbor Bernie Schneider invited me to take the place of his wife who came down with the flu. It was a great honor to attend Opening Day in San Francisco.What I witnessed, though, was a downer. The Giants lost, 8-4, scoring all their runs in the bottom of the ninth inning. It was their fifth loss in six games. The team looked out of sync, mistake-prone and unsure of themselves. In short, they looked pathetic. After the game, I said to Bernie, “This is the worst Giants team I’ve ever seen. They look like minor-leaguers out there.”
But the Giants, to the amazement of the hometown fans, bounced back and won their next three games.You could see their confidence growing with each win.
That’s what writing is all about–confidence. Confidence is so important, especially in the writing process. When you have confidence you write freely and loosely, you’re not worried about an outcome, you’re putting words down for the joy and pleasure of it. And what arises out of that joy and pleasure is discovering a part of yourself you never knew existed. You’ll say to yourself, “Did I write that? I didn’t know I could write so well.”
Each time you have an urge to write and actually sit down to write, your confidence will grow like wildflowers in springtime or like a Giants baseball team at the beginning of a new season.