Strong Abdominals Equals Confidence in Writing

As a fitness professional for over forty years, I have been telling clients to hold in their abdominals. “Pull your belly in,” I’d say. “But you should still be able to breathe and talk, even sing.” Then I’d explain that having a strong core: belly, buttocks, and thighs, will not only allow you to hold your tummy in, and get up from a chair by yourself at ninety, it will also translate to having confidence. “How?” they’d ask. “What does one have to do with the other?” Well, to begin, if you have a strong core you will stand straighter, which always makes a person look more confident.

And the more you give the air of confidence, the more it will seep into your soul. You’ll begin to believe you really are capable. And then you will be! This has always been true for me whenever I had to get up in front of a group, even when I knew my material inside and out. That air of confidence infused me like tea steeping, the robust flavor suffusing the pot. But what does any of this have to do with writing? As a novelist, in addition to being a fitness professional, I can tell you that it really does – if you stretch the concept. So let’s stretch.

Writing is fun. Or it should be. Not fun like children running through an amusement park going from the carousel to the Ferris wheel, but more like the big, scary roller coaster. Writing is like that. Up and down. Climbing so high, you’re holding your breath, and then flying down at an incredible speed your teeth hurt. All writers go through that. You craft a sentence that makes you stop and re-read, astounded that you’ve put those magnificent words together. And then, a paragraph or page later, you’re ready to tear up the manuscript and dump it in the river. Lots of ups and downs. We roll from confidence to doubt, and hopefully, back up to confidence again. 

When I took my first writer’s workshop, I pulled my belly in, sat up straight, and listened. Although I knew nothing of the craft (not even the word craft itself!) I was not going to slump in my chair. No! I was determined, and when someone is determined there has to be a bit of confidence hiding somewhere. Certainly, I doubted myself. Would my characters come alive on the page? Would anyone want to read my story? Buy my book? Could I even write a book? After two published novels and several short stories, I still do question myself sometimes. Yet my fingers hit the keys then, and they still do now. Even when the confidence wanes, and it does, I straighten up, pull my shoulders back, tuck my belly in and tell myself I can do it. And somehow, after shoving all the negative thoughts out of my head, magic happens. The words flow. And my fingers keep flying across the keyboard.

The issue of confidence is common among authors. While having lunch one day with a group of writers, I asked them about having confidence. One well-published novelist laughed. “Confidence? What’s that?” she said. Another writer once told me that she, originally, thought she wasn’t smart enough to write anything since she didn’t have a college degree. That was before she had four books traditionally published – and went on to get her degree later. Another novelist said a teacher once told her she didn’t have an ounce of talent, that she should give up writing. That writer now has seven published books, one in its third edition, and another on the way. If it wasn’t for their determination and belief in themselves, we wouldn’t have their wonderful books on our shelves. Do each one of these writers have strong abdominals? That I don’t know. What I am certain of is that each has a strength deep in the core of their body that makes them go on, and kick any doubts aside, when they trickle in. 

Confidence and perseverance are needed to pursue any goal, whether running a marathon, knitting a sweater, or writing a novel. Start small. Build your confidence. Make a scarf. Jog a mile. Write an essay or a short fiction piece, and then submit that work to literary magazines. Once you get that wonderful email saying they want to publish your story, well…you’ll be on top of that roller coaster! And I am sure your fingers will keep on clicking those keys on your computer. And when you have that novel in your hands, the one you wrote, and you are standing in front of a room at a book talk, pull in your abdominals. Stand tall. Be confident. You did it! Yet know that you will still, sometimes, have doubts. But you will do it again. And again.

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Linda Rosen lives with her husband in New Jersey, but when the leaves fall and she has to swap sandals for shoes and socks, they’re off to their home in Florida. She is the author of The Disharmony of Silence and Sisters of the Vine, both published by Black Rose Writing. Linda is a member of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association and The Women’s National Book Association where she is co-coordinator of their Great Group Reads committee and founder of the South Florida chapter. In addition, she is a founding member of The Author Talk Network and an administrator and editor of the Facebook Group, Bookish Road Trip. Follow her at www.linda-rosen.com.

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SISTERS OF THE VINE

“A novel about vineyard life and family, Linda Rosen’s delightful and poignant Sisters of the Vine is for wine-lovers.” –Laura Dave, author of Eight Hundred Grapes

Housewife and mother with a loving husband to take care of her – that’s all Liz, a Fifties gal, ever wanted. Over her father’s objections, she drops out of college to marry Rick, who dreams of living off the land. They buy a farm on a verdant hillside in the Hudson Valley, but can’t agree on what to plant. When they discover French-American hybrid grapes, Liz is confident they’ll be happy. Grapes are classy.

As the rich soil sinks into her soul and the vines begin to thrive, the marriage grows rocky. Refusing to disappoint her father again, Liz is determined to make her marriage work . . . until she discovers a photograph hidden in the old barn.

Faced with impossible decisions, Liz is desperate. She has a vineyard ready to harvest and no idea how to accomplish the task. Does she have the moxie to flourish? Or will she and the land turn fallow?

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