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Pursuing Authenticity

Amy L. Bernstein
5 min readOct 5, 2024

Being ‘real’ takes courage — and hard work

Photo by Michael Dziedzic on Unsplash

Here’s the thing about writing a book that offers advice to writers who are basically just like you: You can’t just dish it out. You need to take it — to follow your own advice — or risk losing all credibility as the author of an advice-giving book.

My new book offers loads of encouragement and inspiration for other writers who, just like me, need encouragement and inspiration…

And to be completely honest, I’m able to follow my own advice sometimes, but not always.

Is this a case of, “Don’t do as I do, do as I say”? Nobody likes people who say that.

You see my problem, right?

Oh, but that’s only half the story. (Half the worry?) This gets even more meta. My book is all about managing self-doubt. You’re familiar with self-doubt, right? Who isn’t! It’s that nagging voice that lives inside you and never shuts up about what a half-assed job you’re doing, or telling you why you’re not good enough, talented enough, qualified enough…

My book offers gentle advice on how to manage your doubts, accommodate them, live with them, and still produce your art.

I’m basically saying: If I can do it, so can you!

Yeah, and I do…

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Amy L. Bernstein
Amy L. Bernstein

Written by Amy L. Bernstein

I write stories that let you feel and make you think. Fiction, essays, poems. Whatever the moment — or zeitgeist — requires. More at https://amywrites.live.

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