Do you sometimes feel that there are endless of characters walking around in your mind and stories and plots floating around in your brain, all of which are fighting to get onto the pages of your manuscript you're working on? Or the one you are hoping to start any day now?
What could be holding you back?
For me it was fear.
The fear of failure.
The fear of not feeling you're good enough.
And the fear of being vulnerable.
Sharing you your writings with others is scary. It can be like allowing someone to read your diary. Now, that was scary.
I reached a point where I realized most of the decisions I was making were based on fear. My default phrase was I can't or no that's not me or I'm not good enough.
Then one day I changed it up. Instead of cancelling myself and stopping even before I tried, I decided to change my default response to: Why not? or Why not me?
It turned out that all I needed to do was simply just start to write. No one becomes a bestseller writer from after writing their first ever draft. Writing like any other craft needs to be refined and practiced.
I didn't think whether my writing was good or not. All I needed to do was to start writing, as simple as that. By doing this I pushed myself out of my comfort zone and out of the ditch of inactivity.
It was about taking risks and be vunerable, which also meant accepting comments and critique.
Scary? Petrifying.
Ever since I started sharing my writing (although terrifying) I've learned so much in the process. I've learned that just as iron sharpens iron, a pen perfects a pen. Or so to speak.
I recommend this, especially if you're starting out.
One of the forums I've thoroughly enjoyed is www.deadlinesforwriters.com
Check it out and parttake in a few of the challenges they offer for free.
Above all else...continue to write. Allow that creative force to come out and bleed onto the page.
Happy writing.
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