“I don’t have what it takes to make it.” Sound familiar?
Fear. The thing that prevents everyone from doing something. Whether it be big or small, it will creep into your life and cause havoc.
Writers - especially those of you like me who are just starting out on your journey – can be plagued by fear.
So, let’s face a few of them. Head on. With a pointed spear and a sharpened pencil.
1) Rejection. Numero Uno for me. There are so many (what I think are) amazing ideas roaming round my brain, but what if no one else thinks so? You have heard that writers, even popular writers you admire, get hundreds of rejections before they get an acceptance, and you don’t think you can handle that pressure to be accepted. So, what do you do? You write for you. If you think it is a good idea, it is a good idea, because they are your thoughts. You need to separate writing for enjoyment and writing to make money. They do not always go hand in hand and the first should always override the latter. Love your work and you won’t reject yourself.
2) I don’t have the time.
Working a full-time job and trying to write on the side… I feel you. Life can get in the way of the best intentions. You wake up planning to smash through ten chapters of a rewrite, and before you know it you have been absorbed into housework, childcare, errands, coffee catch ups and hour long phone calls with your relatives. Be kind to yourself. A novel typically takes around 700 hours to write from start to publication, so even just an hour a day you will have your finished article in 2 years, assuming you don’t have any longer days. You will get there trooper!
3) I’m a perfectionist and the standard of my writing isn’t up to scratch. Amen! This is another of my fears and one of the hardest to overcome. My first draft of the first novel in the latest young adult trilogy was a full formed story complete with punctuation. ‘Just get the words down, form doesn’t matter’ were curse words to me. I had a very distorted view of my writing. It had to be perfect on the first attempt. Take it from a (semi) reformed perfectionist. Your work is amazing, and the world needs to see it. Please show it to us.
4) I don’t have the talent. There will be times where you think that a Neanderthal has a better grasp of language than you. You will read a piece of work by an author who has been writing for thirty years and question whether you are in fact talented at all. At times like this, please remember that with every word you write your breadth and depth of knowledge will grow. Give yourself a chance to excel and you will.
5) I’ll look like a fool. You’re at a dinner party and don’t know everyone there. Someone asks, “what do you do?” Could you tell them you are a writer? Are you ready to answer questions about your writing without a second to think? If you stutter and explain it badly will they laugh at you or worse, refuse to read your work? Breathe. Just breathe. The fact that you are giving in to your creative urges is an incredible thing. Have your pitch ready, just a sentence or two, and sell your story.
6) I have friends who write, and they all seem to be surpassing me. This last one is more prominent now with the rise of social media. #bookdeal #authorlife #imthebestandeveryonewhosupportedmealongthewaycanburn (OK I made up the last one) fill your newsfeed. I would urge you again to take a breath. Your friend is simply on a different path to you, and where both paths lead or end up, neither of you know. Yes, your friend may have a book deal now, but it may be their only one. In five years’ time you could be sitting on your tenth contract with a movie offering in the pipeline. So smile, congratulate and work on making it your turn to shine next.
I hope these hints help. Please don’t let your insecurities prevent you from answering the call of the pen and paper. Show us the magical stuff you are made of.
G.D.
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