Today I’m going back to speak about another one of those reasons that people don’t write their books, those obstacles that people put in the way of becoming authors. This is something people don’t always say, but very often, they’re thinking. Sometimes, they actually say it, and somebody said it to me not too long ago. She said, “Who am I to write a book? Who am I to call myself an author?” Well, if that’s what you’re thinking, listen up.

You are considering writing a book on an area in which you have at least some degree of expertise. Maybe it’s a business book, maybe it’s a how-to book teaching people how to do something, and maybe it’s nothing to do with business. Maybe it’s about a hobby that you have. Maybe you’re an expert at fishing and you’ve developed some little techniques that make it so that you catch more fish than anybody else, or you can find fish where people think there are no fish. That’s valuable information to other fishing people, so there’s no reason why you can’t actually help people by putting that information on paper or in a digital format — in other words, putting it in a book.

If you have information like that, then that’s who you are to write a book. You have to change your mindset about this. It’s a form of inferiority complex and you have to get rid of it. 

I grappled with this early in my speaking and writing career, and I was helped out of it by a friend who’s also a speaker. We were talking about sending news releases out in order to get interviewed for newspapers and television and so forth. Now, this was before the days of podcasts, and it was a little intimidating. I remember saying to my friend, “Oh, I don’t know. I don’t think I’ve really got anything to say about this. Who am I to be interviewed on television?” 

And she said to me, “Helen, don’t be ridiculous.” I said, “What do you mean?” She said, “You stand up and speak to audiences on this subject, and the people in the audience make notes of what you’re saying because they didn’t know it before. And they need to know it, they want to know it, and that’s why they’re sitting in the seats. Obviously you do have something to say about this.”

When it comes to you and your book, somebody will buy your book and spend the time reading it because you have information that they don’t have and that they want. And that’s who you are to write your book. 

If you put it that way and you think about having information that’s useful and valuable to other people, then you could say, not only do you have a right to write a book, but you have a duty to write a book to spread the word and give other people the benefit of your expertise.

So, if you’ve been thinking, “Who am I to write a book?” turn your thinking around. Think about what you know, and then remind yourself that that’s who you are. 

And here’s another little tip that you might use just to cement this idea in your mind. Next time you sit down to write, to begin to do something on your book, use this affirmation. Say to yourself, “I am an expert in…” whatever it is, “And it is my right and duty to write a book so that I can share my expertise.” 

And then write it. 

And I’ll talk to you next week.