I am at the Writer's Digest conference this weekend, and one phrase keeps being said in various ways in all the different sessions:
DO THE THING THAT SCARES YOU.
Good advice for life AND writing.
This may mean writing in a different style, format, or perspective than you usually do, trying a quirky marketing strategy, pitching a big-time magazine that you don't in a million years think will say yes (they might! Hell, they will!). Or flipping your story on its side (advice from James Scott Bell). Or doing a zip line in Costa Rica (on my bucket list!).
Confidence is key to going after your dreams and achieving your goals. And doing what scares you--overcoming your fears--will give you so much confidence someone might even (gasp!) call you cocky.
Let them. You are going to be too busy reaping the benefits of your hard work and bravery to notice.
So go get'em. Stare down that fear and beat it. You deserve it.