I’m stubborn. If someone makes a suggestion to me or asks something of me, often my first response is “No.”
On the positive side, my stubbornness is called persistence. I refuse to quit. I won’t give up, or give in. There’s a saying something like persistence is more important than talent. So I figure I’ll keep submitting and someday I’ll have outlasted all the other writers.
I’ve always been that way.
I will never forget when one of my teachers kindly informed me that I wasn’t going to ever be as good as one of his other students Needless to say, I was stunned and hurt, but I was also royally teed off. I remember marching home that day thinking, “What does he know? I’ll show him!”
This attitude has come in handy when facing my writing fears.
I fear I won’t complete my novel. I fear that it won’t be good enough. I fear that I will fail, that I am a failure. I have a choice.
I have a choice. I can adopt these fears and let them control me, let them stop me from writing. I did this for a long time. I still do, sometimes. They are at the heart of it all on the days I procrastinate. OR, I can face these fears, acknowledge them, use them to push me, but saying to them, “Just Watch Me!”
Fear: “You’ll never finish.”
Me: “Then I’ll write until I do. Justt watch me!”
Fear: “You’re not good enough.”
Me: “Then I’ll keep learning and practicing and growing until I am. Just watch me!”
Fear: “You are a failure.”
Me: “Then I’ll work harder, submit more, until I succeed. Just watch me!”
Fear: “You’re a fake.”
Me: “Am I? Then I’ll have to just fake it until I make it! I’ll just have to keep on writing and working at it to mee the standards others already believe I’ve set. Just watch me!”
You too have a choice. You can allow your fears to slow you down, to stop you, or you can embrace them, use them to push you in the direction you want to go.
Join the conversation! What are your writing fears? How can you use them to push you forward?
