18 You Have a Book in You 吀栀e 昀椀rst step is certainty. Not just con昀椀dence, not just belief, but the absolute conviction that you have a book inside you that is going to be born. It’s the principle on which martial arts like karate are built. When you’re punching your hand through a board, you don’t focus on striking the wood itself. You concentrate on reaching though the wood to grasp something beyond it. Some- thing you want. Something you need. Something you know is there. You don’t have to believe you can write. All you have to do now is believe that I believe you can write, and voilà: YOU REALLY CAN WRITE! I give you permission and full encouragement to write. I want you to believe in yourself, in your writing ability, and in the phenomenal contribution that you will make to others. Repeat to yourself 101 times a night before you go to sleep: I AM A GREAT AND INSPIRING WRITER AND BEST- SELLING AUTHOR. Do this with feeling, belief, and total expectancy. Live in the assump- tion that your vision, purpose, and hope are ful昀椀lled and that readers are loving, bene昀椀ting from, and automati- cally sharing your writings. See yourself on the other side of the writing experi- ence, just as a karate master sees his hand pass on to the other side of the board before he makes a move. 吀栀at’s why we will keep saying live in your imagination, and start with the end in mind. See your best seller in detail and all