It's October and Halloween is coming so I thought I'd write about writing fears. They can be paralyzing. Imposter syndrome is probably the biggest fear I battle. Thinking I'm just faking it and I'm not good enough...those thoughts float around in my head while I write. Those thoughts have stopped me from writing. Those thoughts have pushed me to stop writing entirely and abandon writing projects...for a while.
After years and years of failure and years and years of writing, I recognize fear when it rears its face and I have some strategies that help me.
1. Ignore the fear and write anyway. Who says I have to listen to the fear?
2. Write to the fear or about the fear. While writing bigger projects, when the fear hits, I will open my notebook or open a new document and take a few moments to write about the fear. It helps. My favorite thing to do is to address the fear directly and tell it to GO AWAY! I'M WRITING!
3. Writing friends. Fear seems to stay away from large groups. When the fear becomes too much, I reach out to my writing friends. I ask for help and encouragement. I must say my friends (especially Jen) are so skilled at talking me away from fear. After a conversation, I feel calmer and able to write again.
We had a conversation on Twitter last night about fear and writing. The best thing that came out of it is seeing that everyone has fears and every writer must work through fear...even those writers among us that are published.
Fears are here. They aren't going anywhere. Let's use them to fuel our writing instead of allowing it to stop our writing.
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