Writing: How to Be Scared and Write Anyway

I work with writing students. They have questions.

Now, while questions are fine, and I love them, I hate hypothetical questions. Like this: "What if a flying saucer landed in my backyard, and they took me to a strange planet 120 light years away, and I didn't know anyone, and they didn't let me pack any clothes, not even my brand new Puma sneakers that I bought yesterday, and..."

That question may be a bit over the top, but it makes as much sense as 99 per cent of the "This is new, and I'm spooked!" questions I get.

Learning something new is scary.

Doing anything new is scary too.

Let's face it: being alive is scary, because we all know how that ends, don't we?

Writing is scary. All writers are scared. I am, you are, we all are.

I read a research study once about brain hemispheres and emotion. According to this study, people who spend a lot of time in the right hemisphere of their brain (the creative side) are more introverted and anxious.

So it's not your fault you're scared. You're scared because you're creative and imaginative. Being anxious is the price you pay for being who you are.

Since that's the case -- you're scared because you're a writer -- it's time to stop believing whatever you're telling yourself.

If you're telling yourself:

* I shouldn't feel this way;

* Being scared means that I can't write;

* What I wrote yesterday is crap and I'll write crap today, and tomorrow;

* I should give up writing. It's obvious I'm a failure...

Don't listen to what you're telling yourself.

Write instead. Write down everything you're telling yourself for a start. Then keep writing. Just write a word, a sentence, a paragraph. Then write some more.

It's OK to be scared. It means you're a writer, and you should be HAPPY about that. :-)

 

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