Other than not having time – family, job, spouse, friends, hobbies, etc., all take time away from being able to write – the second largest hurdle for a writer to overcome is confidence.

And, I am speaking of two distinctly different utilizations of this word.

The first is the confidence that you will ever become published. The second is writing with the confidence that you are doing so in a manner that will lend itself to becoming published.

I will address the first in this post.

The...