How Can I Get Over My Fear Of Writing? Ask Anne, The Pro Writer

(www.thegoldenpencil.com)

Dear Anne,
I don’t know if you can help me or not. I really want to get a book written but every time I block out an hour or more, I get very little done. In fact, yesterday it took me four hours to write a single page and I hated it so much I deleted the file.

When I think about how I feel, I realize I’m afraid. I’ve worked with a therapist about some of my fears and that’s helped. Should I go to a counselor to get over my fear of writing?

Thanks,
JK

Hi JK,

Oh boy. First of all, I’m not a counselor; I’m a freelance writer and a writing coach. I would never suggest to someone I didn’t know well that they should or should not go get professional help with a problem. I’ve used counselors and therapists off and on for years, and mostly they’ve helped.

And it makes sense to me that there is some sort of fear that is keeping you from writing more than a page in four hours. So it might make sense to go get professional help. I notice, however, you’ve worked with counselors before and I wonder if you need one now or if you might not have enough information to push through this particular fear. I know I can get horribly distracted looking for hidden fears rather than just sitting down and getting some writing done.

I’d also point out that four hours is a long writing stretch. Many professionals, including me, consider that close to the maximum they can write in a day and still be able to write the next day.

Try writing for a shorter period of time right now. Fifteen or twenty minutes is probably a good place to start exercising your writing muscles. Make use of book ending. Write without editing or even reading much at the moment. You’re goal is to create a rough draft.

Take a break. Move away from the computer, stretch a bit, then after no more than 10 minutes, come back and spend another 20 minutes drafting. Don’t read what you wrote in the first session – we know it will need massive editing. Just write.

Chances are you will discover you can write, even if you’re experiencing some fear or discomfort. If you keep writing, you will probably discover the discomfort disappears and you get caught up in the act of writing.

If, after a second break, you want to continue for another 20 minute session, go ahead. But stop after the third one, call your book ending partner and celebrate. You’ve actually written for up to an hour. Notice how many pages you’ve got – probably two or three. Run a word count; I’m betting about 800 words if you did all three sessions.

Close the file and come back to it tomorrow. Do this for five days before you read anything or attempt to edit. The intention here is to help you break through you fears so you can actually get some writing done. After the fifth day, by all means do some gentle editing, but not before you really acknowledge yourself for the writing you’ve done!

Of course, you may decide to get some counseling anyway. And that’s fine. I’m betting that you’ll learn enough about yourself in the five days to make any professional help you decide to get much more effective.

Do you have a question about freelance writing? Ask Anne, The Writing Pro – that’s me ;) Ask in the comments or send an email and put Q&A in the subject line so I can sort it out from spam and I’ll do my best. Meanwhile, you’ll find some Q&A’s here:

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Write well and often,

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