Writing Scared
by Laurie Young
Writing scares me. Every part of it. I am afraid the words won’t come. I am afraid that when they do, they won’t be any good. I am afraid that if it is good, I won’t know it and I’ll change it and make it worse. Every time I sit down at the computer I am filled with fear. So why do I do it? (I’ll tell you in a minute…)
I can show up. The BIC (Butt-In-Chair) part is the easiest, (I’m actually quite good at sitting.) It’s the pour-out-your-soul part that terrifies me. I struggle with that. I struggle with wanting it to be so good, that I am afraid to let it be bad. But it should be bad. I mean, it should be allowed to be bad. You know that saying, “Feel the fear and do it anyway”? Whatever the fear is, whatever the emotion, whatever the excuse, (and I’ve got a million of them, if you want to borrow one) I make myself do it anyway. I accept that it’s going to be a messy, ugly slog, and I just do it. But why do I do it? (I’m getting to that…)
I wish I could say that every time I sit down to write it gets easier. But so far it doesn’t.
I go through the fear each day. What does get easier is that every time I make myself embrace the slog, the words start to trust me a little bit more and I start to trust them. Whatever I can offer you in the way of insight, is to make friends with the slog.
The publishing industry is changing every day. In ten years we may have microchips inserted in our brains and will download all information directly, Matrix-style. Who knows? One thing that won’t change is that writers will still want to tell a good story, will still need to organize their thoughts into a cohesive whole and put it down in an accessible format. We will still be doing this a hundred years from now. So get slogging.
There are millions of ideas inside all of us. It takes bravery to write them down so others can know them, too. I don’t want to die with my stories still inside me.* (That’s why I do it.)
Take comfort in knowing that none of words look terrific when they first come out of our heads. Even famous prolific writers have to edit and re-write over and over and over again–and then they have editors who repeat that process yet again and again. So, just get the stories out of your head–focusing on one at a time–and the quality will come. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving! –Cheri
“Feel the fear and do it anyway.” I love this! Thanks for inspiring us all to be brave!
Thank you for the powerful and timely reminder. The planning, targeting, researching and “thinking about it” time is over. Time to get it out my fingertips and onto the screen.
Thanks!