8 Killer Fears You Need to Face and How You Can Overcome Them as a Writer

We all have fears. They kill our enthusiasm, cripple us and make us do less than what we are designed to accomplish. What keeps you from doing more as an effective writer?

1. You are afraid your expertise will not be enough.

It’s a given fact that there are experts in every field. We all want to know what they do so we can inherit their success. How I wish I were like Thursday Bram already to be brave enough to write about writing. But I’m not. And I could not wait ’till I become like her before I start.

Every aspiring writer must be able to start somewhere and every path is different. Give yourself a chance because every big writer  started from being a nobody. Why not take that big step forward? Work on your own potential. You need to trust your creativity and eventually you will become a trusted expert in your own field. Learn from the experts but do not look down on yourself and do not wait to become like them before you explore.

2. You are afraid you’ll commit a mistake.

It is a nightmare to write a post and later find out that you have just published an error for the entire world to see. I did this many times and felt like a fool. Yes, we strive to make every written copy perfect but failure is inevitable. Effective writers also fail.

If you want to succeed you must give it a try. Avoiding failure means avoiding success altogether. Learn from your mistakes but first allow yourself to make one. It’s one of the best ways you can sharpen your writing skills.

3. You are afraid you won’t be making sense.

Who isn’t? Stop waiting for everything to make sense before you write your post. I don’t mean to just post anything online. We all know we shouldn’t do that.

A fellow blogger advised not to spend an entire week writing one article. We need order and organization, but we should not fear a little bit of confusion from time to time. Brilliant ideas do not usually come right away perfectly lined up and neatly organized. Sometimes they come from pure chaos. Some things start to work great before we even figure out how.

 4. You are afraid you will not be able to actually do it.

At the back of your mind you say you can do great but another part of you says otherwise. You are not alone. Not having adequate experience causes us to lose our confidence. But making sense of how things work is a process. You will gain more confidence as an effective writer once you keep going.

Trust that your ideas are on the course of being tried and tested just as anyone else’s. As you learn to figure things out, you will grow your confidence. If you fail, try what you haven’t tried yet. That’s the way it works. As pointed out already, every path to success is different, yours included.

5. You are afraid people pulling you down are actually right.

Ignore them. It’s your own fight. You don’t have to prove anything to anybody either. Just do your best. Useful critics are welcome, but be wary of those who are actually just pulling you down.  This world has a shortage of encouragers while detractors are many.You  simply need to give it a shot. Work not to disprove anybody and see where your creativity takes you. This will save you a lot of discouragements as you learn to write effectively.

6. You are afraid you don’t have all the facts.

One big temptation every writer faces is to study and research excessively on almost everything written about. Overwhelmed by all the information you have and yet to see? Act on what you know today. You don’t have to wait ‘till you know almost everything.

7.  You are too afraid to get out of limits.

We usually put limits to ourselves according to what we have already experienced. But these limits are usually traps. What works today may not work anymore tomorrow. At the same time, what isn’t working today might just be the best way to do things tomorrow.

Put wings on your creativity especially when you are just starting. Your weirdest concept now may just be the most workable idea next week. Just give it a try. Unless you do that, you will not be able to give your best shot. Effective writers dare to spread their wings.

8. You are afraid you’ll forget to edit. That’s why you keep editing while you write.

We are trained to criticize since grade school. Remember the red ink on your grade school composition? Your teacher used to say, “Change your tense”, “Wrong punctuation”, “Next paragraph”.

If my memory serves me right, there was never a time in my language subject when we were allowed to just write freely, let our ideas flow and edit afterwards. It was always making sure that your next verb is with the same tense or plurality as your previous one. And you are to do it right the first time. Our minds are trained to edit first.

Too much editing wears down. It will take you a lot of time to finish writing just one sentence if you go on evaluating every single word and sentence you make. Have a separate time of free-flow writing and edit afterwards. It worked well in writing this article.

Think I just missed to edit something? Click on my comment box and share your mind. Also, what are some of your fears and how did you overcome them? Do you have any particular fear listed above?

Seven Things that Can Make You an Expert Writer

Are you hesitant to share what you know because you don’t consider yourself an expert? Do you have to wait until everybody calls you that way?

Most people have great potential but are so hesitant to do something about it because nobody calls them an expert. But what makes a person an expert in any particular field? Read on and gain the confidence you need to do as much as you can starting today.

1. Knowledge

You definitely know a lot. What particular things do you know which can help others? Can you show this in a way that can benefit them?

Your simple knowledge can add value to the life of others. When you show fellow moms how to bake bread, how to discipline kids, how to clean up their mess and organize their stuff, you become an expert. You will know it when they come to you and ask about how you do something.

Your knowledge may seem too small and insignificant to you, but once you treasure it and treat it with value and improves it, it becomes an expertise that people are willing to pay for.

2. Focus

Of all the things you know, what makes you talk most of the time? A drummer will usually tap his fingers on almost anything and create rhythms and sound patterns. A parent will always talk about his kids. A lover talks about his dinner dates most of the time. A sales person talks about sales even while having lunch.

What do you keep talking about? What fuels your interest? What generates your enthusiasm? Your passion is the best thing you can be an expert on.

3. Experience

No two experiences are alike. This is why we can learn from the experiences of others and likewise. What you have gone through are unique experiences from which perspectives, steps and tips can be drawn to help others. Treasure them. Formulate lessons from them. Observe how certain things were done successfully and what things failed. These can form guidelines for others to follow or get an idea from. And because your experience is unique, it makes you an expert.

4. Action

Having all the knowledge and ideas is nothing if you don’t act about them. Your idea is no good until you act on it. A lot real good guys with very good ideas never succeed because of inactivity. It’s not knowledge that eventually makes you an expert. It’s knowledge that works both for you and your target audience.

Make your knowledge work by making it available for everyone to use. Make an eBook out of it, post it on a blog, tweet about it, and post it on social media, or make a video out of it.

5. Selling

This is what most writers are afraid of. Sell your ideas and experiences. Sell yourself. Unless you let it out in the open, people will never know you have something worthwhile to offer. You may have noticed that a lot of people out there are not even better than you. The only difference is they sell their stuff and you don’t.

You cannot earn a following without first selling yourself. What you know to be very simple stuff can already be a big help to some people and they will be willing to pay for it.

6. Value

Having an expertise is one thing. Adding value to it is another. How can you make your offer better? How can you make your readers feel you are giving them advantage and that you care for them? Continue to improve on your knowledge and skills and keep learning for better and better results. This will keep followers coming for more.

7. Service

Helping others is what gives meaning to what we do. If you fail to make it a point, you will not serve your purpose. Your knowledge and experiences are designed to make the life of others better. Seek to find more ways to serve your followers and continually think of their welfare. This always works both ways. The better you serve your audience, the more they will come back to you.

Don’t wait until someone calls you an expert before you do something. Start acting now and write as an expert writer does.

Want to add something? Click on my comment link and shoot. Experts and non-experts welcome. Thanks.

Important Characteristics of Writers Who Do More

Why do some writers accomplish more? I have observed many great bloggers and writers do a few more articles, update much more frequently, and just accomplish a whole lot more. Gleaning from them, I have learned what it takes. Here are important things effective writers do.

Efficient writers store ideas big time.If you want to be great, you will not miss on any idea which comes to your mind. Just as illustrators and painters carry their sketchpad everywhere, writers should carry a notepad (IPad, net book if you want). It’s a given fact that writers capitalize on ideas. If you want to have lots of them and have them handy for any project, then be a bank of ideas. Never let a single one escape your mind. Some writers carry a small notepad with them.

Efficient writers test their ideas with time.They treat their thoughts as deposits which when allowed to stand for a while yield interest. Update whatever you have written on your notepad with more thoughts as you let them stand for a week or so. When you sit down to actually make an article, you will not run out of support information to use.

Efficient writers major on simple content.You will find that many great bloggers post simple articles and schedule for just two to three more complex articles in a week. You don’t have to stick out your biggest gun every time you post. Longer and more complex articles can be done twice or three times a week. Stick to simpler and shorter articles when you need to post daily.

Efficient writers know how to use research. This present age has the tendency to make us victims of information overload. Efficient writers don’t allow themselves to fall for such. They usually get just enough of what they need and spare other valuable information for future use. Just because we have much information at hand doesn’t necessarily mean we need to utilize them at one time. To better manage your research, do it before you actually write your article.

Efficient writers organize content quickly. Writers who accomplish more know how to go about their work in no time. Most of them use bullets and numbered lists which are great when categorizing and arranging thoughts. This makes things easier to group together. Bullets and numbers are more friendly with readers.

Efficient writers are great at using words. They know that one can only occupy just enough space for readers to keep reading so choosing their words properly is extremely important. Writers who do more use short and effective language to deliver their thoughts to their readers.

Efficient writers don’t stop. When one idea just doesn’t work, they make it a point to never stop. I know of one great blogger who finds other topics to write once they encounter the writer’s block. When ideas are stored for use anytime, writers won’t run out of topics to write.

These are but a few of the important things I have watched great writers do. These practices set them apart from the rest.

How about you? Share some of your own best experiences and observations on doing more as a writer. It would be great to learn together. Please write on my comment box. Thank you.