How to Keep Writing in the Face of Fear

Never Stop Writing

Building a life around something we love is an opportunity we want to take, but just like any job, how do we keep writing when times get tough? 

Sometimes words flow onto our manuscripts, our author platforms are growing, and life feels full of opportunity and light. Other times, well, we face writer’s block, feel insufficient to achieve our platform and publishing goals, and it all feels a bit grim (sometimes impossible). 

If you are feeling that challenge right now, I give you permission to not feel guilty. If you have yet to face this, prepare yourself and I’ll let you know how you can. The point is just because we love something doesn’t mean it’s all cupcakes and rainbows. Many times fear will try to take us down. 

But these cycles we experience are us stretching our boundaries. They are signs that we are expanding ourselves and becoming strong. When fear corners us, the only way to get past is through. If we are willing to do what it takes to live a great life, then we will make it through. 

Like all of us, I’ve fought through a lot of fear. In this blog post I’m going to take you through some mindset changes and tips which have helped me keep writing when fear faces me down. My goal for this post is that something I’ve learned can help you, give you some encouragement, or be comforted by relating with another writer who goes through crap. 

 Ready? Let’s get started. 

A Writing Mindset Transformation

Not long enough ago I was sitting on my bed in the middle of the day binging Netflix. It was sunny outside and I had a blog post to write, but I was on my bed watching tv shows and angry with myself for watching tv shows. 

Sadly, this wasn’t a one time occurrence or even a weekend binge, it was an unhealthy habit I turned to when I was afraid, and it was becoming too common. During this time whenever I thought about writing I froze up. I was still writing a blog post a week, yet every time I faced writing I couldn’t imagine being able to finish another post, let alone work on my novel. 

This period of my writing has so far been the toughest. I felt trapped, and while other factors of my life were also causing these feelings, I didn’t fight any of them the way I should have. I lost a lot of time lying on my bed feeling terrible. 

Fast forward to today and I still have fear. In fact, I had trouble starting to write this post.

But the difference today from back then is I have learned how to manage fear better.

I no longer stay in bed watching shows all day, and I only indulge in the occasional late night binge session (which I promptly remind myself to stop!). I am living, writing more, and beginning to find joy in each day. 

I’m coming clean about these ugly truths of my past because I want you to know you’re not alone in struggling. I’m not proud of how I was living, but knowing what I do now about fear and my mindset in the past I understand why I did. I was trying to protect myself with unhealthy habits, thought patterns, and actions. 

I’m changed now because I’ve started practicing new and healthy ways to face fear. 

There is still an infinite amount of growth that can be done, but with the mindsets set out below which I’ve learned to practice, I have hope in continuous growth for us both. 

Time Grows Fear

This is how to keep writing in the face of fear: Don’t let it control you. When we procrastinate, we hand our victory to fear. The more time we give fear, the greater the fear will grow. I learned this principle first by business influencer Grant Cardone. 

The longer you wait to write, the harder it will be to start. I’ve come to adopt this mantra over the past couple weeks: “Think it. Do it.” 

I tend to think more on a project than the time I work on it. This mantra reminds me to start acting as soon as I think of a project. Stop letting the fear of my incapability to write a blog post grow and just write the blogpost, novel, or extra resource for subscribers. 

Using Fear for Guidance

This mindset came from Grant Cardone as well. He taught me that fear is often the indicator of where you should go, not where you should run from. 

If you are afraid of writing a blog post, story, or making your name known online or in the publishing world then you should probably do it. While we want to write great things and have success, we are often afraid of those things, too. 

And when we are afraid, we procrastinate. Then we are angry with ourselves for not having success, but are still afraid, so keep procrastinating. 

Exercise: It’s time to stop the cycle. Off the top of your head what is something your are afraid of right now? Got it? Okay, I wan’t you to take a step forward in the progress of that goal today. My challenge is writing this blogpost, so now you’ve got to do something you’re scared of. 

---

---

Identify Your Writing Fear

Fear loses some of its power when it’s unveiled, like the wizard behind the curtain in The Wizard of Oz. When we identify why we are afraid of something, then we can move through the fear. 

The tricky part of this identification process is our instinct to run from fear. If we keep running, we will never take a close enough look at the fear to identify what’s behind the shadow. 

I’ll give you an example of a writer we’ll call Kate. Kate was born to write, but she has been procrastinating on writing her story. She gives herself excuses that she doesn’t have enough time to write and lives unhappily in a state of wishing for writing time yet never making the commitment.

If Kate took a second to look deeper into herself, she would find that some fear is the reason for her procrastination. Maybe she’s afraid of not writing well, failing, being judged, or maybe all of the above. When Kate realizes what fear is keeping her from writing, she can face it head on. If she is afraid of not writing well, she can remind herself that the only way to get better is to practice writing. 

Exercise: Take the project which you chose in the last exercise, and identify why you are afraid of it. Now remind yourself why this fear shouldn’t hold you back.

Related: How to Find Writing Time in a Busy Schedule

Keep Writing

This fourth mindset is the key to keeping your fear in check. Don’t give fear time to grow by doing what you fear everyday. Keep writing on your novel or take a step to build your writing career everyday. Fear wants you to become stuck in one place, so you must keep moving forward. Keep writing. 

Whenever you feel a hint of fear confront it, identify it, and take a step toward it. The more you stay in this mindset the better you will feel and the more productive you will be. 

The secret to finishing that novel or publishing your book? Don’t listen to the fear longer than it takes to identify it—keep moving. Do one thing everyday toward something you want to do but are afraid of doing. Build up this mindset so it will become natural. 

Change Your Perception

It’s funny and frustrating how we train our brains to adopt bad thought patterns so easily. One of the worst thought patterns I have is thinking in the morning that this day will be a bad day. When I look at my life now (the life I have been working to shape into something I want to live), I recognize that there are things I still do not want to do, but that I don’t need to be trapped by them. 

These difficult tasks are in my day by choice, and while I don’t like them they don’t have to control me. I can choose to elevate my perspective of my day, and find joy in the time I get to spend on things I do enjoy doing. 

Why be trapped in by fear when I can live free? When I catch myself in this pattern, I can often turn it around, and I realize my life is turning into something pretty amazing. 

This mindset alone makes a world of difference in our ability to keep writing. Once you dismiss the fear of bad things happening, you are free to enjoy the writing you love. 

Negative Self-Talk

Similar to the changing perspective mindset, we often spew negative self-talk without realizing. We think thoughts like “I can’t do this.” “My writing is crap.” “I will never get published.” “I could never be this good.” 

This self-talk won’t help us keep writing in the face of fear. Instead it will crush us until all our self-esteem and sense of ability are ground to powder. 

Take a moment to listen to the thoughts you tell yourself, and notice if they are positive or negative. If you are telling yourself “I can’t do this,” replace it with “I can do this.” If you’re self-talk is good, please move on to the next section. 

Writer’s Self-Care

I’m a big advocate for daily self-care such was drinking water, getting 7-8 hours of sleep, moving your body, and communication with other people. These basic self-care tasks can set you up for achieving great things. 

All of the above give us energy and inspiration, to deny your body of its needs while expecting great accomplishments is unrealistic. 

Take care of yourself and watch your motivation, energy, and good feelings rise. 

Related: 5 Acts of Daily Self-Care Writers Should Practice Daily

Don’t Forget to Live

As I mentioned above, when we let fear corner us, we cease to really live. We revert to playing defense with our lives and begin forming unhealthy habits to cope. 

God made us to experience life—the work, joy, connection, and nature. Deciding to be present in our lives is also an act of self-care. 

Are you currently living in a survive day-to-day mindset? I lived in a survival mindset for years, and some of those years I needed to. But when you have the opportunity, don’t make your daily goal to be survival, but to live. Let’s experience our extraordinary lives. 

Developing Our Edge

Not long ago my therapist told me that she saw a rough edge in me. She said it meant that no matter the challenges I have come against, I have an edge to keep fighting no matter how difficult the situation becomes. 

Someone who knows the darkest parts about me saying this gave me hope, because it is true. I have kept fighting. And if you have fought through some bad situations, then you have an edge, too, and that is a good thing. 

How to Keep Writing Now

How do we keep writing in the face of fear? We develop all of the mindsets above into one, and begin sharpening our edge. You have made it this far, and you will make it so much farther before your life is done. 

My challenge to you is to pick one mindset above to put into practice immediately. Try one for a day, notice how it makes you feel, and then add another. 

Now, implementing these mindsets aren’t a magic bullet to fix all our problems. What these mindsets can do is equip us with the right habits and thought patterns to keep us writing, living, and managing our fear healthily. 

Now I’m not a psychologist, but many of the mindsets I’ve outlined above have been tested to work, gleaned from my time in therapy, and found from researching psychology for my own health. I can’t guarantee anything will work for you. However, I believe if you begin taking actions to change your mindset regarding fear, you will see improvement.

Keep writing,

Sarah 

Writers, what do you think? What mindset do you embrace when you need to keep writing? Share in the comments.

Feature photo by Daria Shevtsova from Pexels