How to Cultivate "Healthy Arrogance": Part 2: The Confidence You Need to Break Through as a Novelist

Healthy arrogance isn't about being a jerk; it’s the essential self-belief that your work is worth sharing. By separating your ego from your manuscript and redefining rejection as a growth gap, you can transform creative angst into productive momentum.

Our last post addressed bad arrogance. This post details its more productive counterpart. We're going to move from those attitudes that prevent you from acting professionally, learning, and improving to healthy arrogance, an attitude adjustment that will help you succeed as an author. Put simply, it concerns confidence, the belief you have in yourself and your work. This mindset will also minimize the emotional turmoil that plagues too many writers on the road to success.

All writing involves effort. Having healthy arrogance maximizes forward progress from the effort you spend. Other attitudes tend to push you sideways or backward. Emotional fireworks don't help your career. The angst-laden struggles that too many author stereotypes contain aren't productive. Yes, you should be passionate about your work, but don't let that passion get in the way of reflection and growth.

Having the right attitude will help with the three avenues Bardsy recommends would-be professionals pursue: storytelling, putting that story into words, and promotion. Insecurities hamper all three. Ironically, we find that the most insecure tend to have the most potential. So, how can you cultivate this attitude, build confidence, and overcome its lack?

Rejection offers the best opportunity to think about and practice healthy arrogance because every writer faces it. Sometimes, especially in the moment, overwhelmingly so. Know, first, that you're not alone; you're not even near the top of the list. John Creasey, for instance, claims 774 dings before his mysteries gained traction. Likewise, Kate DiCamillo has posted 473 rejection letters at last count.

The goal isn't to beat the high score; it's to accept the inevitable and keep going. Avoiding rejection means never sharing your work. Having the wherewithal to face this reality is pivotal to success. You miss a hundred percent of the shots as the cliche goes. You must come to terms with the fact that you'll receive bad news.

It helps to redefine rejection as the gap between where one is and where one wants to be. When a rejection comes, it shouldn't be a shock. Instead, it's an opportunity to mobilize your commitment, learn, and keep going. We don't want to encourage the complaining 2% we discussed in our last post, nor the "Grandiose Gary" persona. We do want to encourage everyone else's "Healthy arrogance" to fuel the effort to close that gap.

Many writers come to us as a bundle of insecurities. For them, acquiring healthy arrogance means stepping back and examining the work to realize they have something worth sharing. This is not intense psychoanalysis, just a somewhat objective appraisal.

If you can't find this within yourself to start, it's best to ask others. For example, everyone who enters our anthology contests receives feedback, and every feedback report includes some positives. We've never seen a work that doesn't have something worthwhile on which to build. Likewise, you can use our retelling test -- hand the reader a chapter and ask them to retell it in their own words -- to confirm your work's value. While you may discover you have more to do, any author who has put in the effort to reach this point will undoubtedly have some strengths. Moreover, retelling positives come from a real reader, making it triply valuable.

You want to reach the point where you can say "my stories are worth sharing" without any inner (or outer) voice telling you otherwise. You can also use this sentiment as a test by asking yourself whether your stories are worth sharing? should receive a resounding yes. Any other response inevitably has less to do with your work than with your attitude. Again, we find that the more insecure tend to have more potential. To address this issue, we offer evidence from the aforementioned two sources along with a healthy dose of cheerleading. Over time, especially when you compare yourself to other authors at the same point in their journey, you should internalize this belief and apply it when needed.

Using this mantra is the best reflexive reaction to the obstacles every writer faces. Saying it builds a foundation for commitment to writing and to finishing your novels. Repeating it builds momentum and keeps you going when bumps hit. If you find yourself obsessed with a rejection or pieces of bad feedback, go back to the mantra. Be arrogant enough to see this as but one obstacle on the way to reaching your goal.

That said, you should go beyond chanting -- apologies to fans of Rhonda Byrne -- toward improving your work. Though we may never reach perfection, its intelligent steady pursuit puts every author in a good place. To do so, you have to believe in yourself and that your drafts can improve. It takes a certain amount of arrogance to say, "I'm in this for the long haul and am capable of learning to produce good work." Without that inner confidence, writers won't grow.

Notice this discussion carefully separates the author and the work. Bad arrogance often conflates the two, sometimes causing anger due to being so ego-involved that any criticism feels like an attack. Aim to be mature in the sense that you know you are more than your work. Your novel has its own trajectory. Effort will make it better, and rejection isn't a shot to the heart. This attitude covers seeing yourself as a capable person in addition to seeing your work's potential. It promotes closing the gap between the work's present state and where you want it to be.

We like the "willows bend, oaks break" cliche. Go with the flow. If you meet ten jerks in a writing month, maybe the problem isn't the other people. Before hitting "send" on an angry email, think about whether it's a reactive defense mechanism. Nearly all writers are good people and don't reach this point. The desire to share stories seems to come from empathy for fellow beings. One lesson is to have some empathy for yourself, too.

Part of being confident is the ability to sift through advice. Healthy arrogance allows us to filter what is immediately useful from what is less important. Naturally, not all feedback is created equally; some is better (or worse) than the rest. When you're stuck between two choices, the retelling test offers the best response. Look at the effect your words have on readers. Later in your career, but not too soon, you'll be able to anticipate your fans' reactions and rely on educated intuition.

Others can help; writing is a solitary pursuit. That fact doesn't eliminate the need for support, particularly emotional. Having a mentor or peers helps even out the rough spots and push or pull you when motivation flags. When building your team, it's vital to find the right people. You don't want a mutual admiration club or a group dominated by jerks. Take heart knowing that most people, especially writers, are good; they will provide an honest evaluation of your strengths and weaknesses along with the boost everyone needs at times.

At the end of the day, we're humans (no lizard types here). Our job is to succeed together. 98% of people can do this. Though everyone won't produce a bestseller, they can produce good stories that they're proud to share and receive genuine appreciation in return.