When you start out as a writer, it's common to be anxious. I can remember working on my first novel and literally shaking with fear. At the time (over 30 years ago) I'd never heard of writing anxiety and the only way I coped was to force myself to sit in the chair and face the typewriter.
All these years later, I know I missed a bet. Why didn't I keep a JOURNAL of what was going on with me? I'd love to know how long the anxiety persisted and exactly how I felt. I've got a feeling that the fear stayed with me until I completed the book - which makes me very brave, to write in the face of extreme terror, and I'm proud of my younger self.
If you get anxious, please realize that there's nothing wrong with you. It just shows that you care about writing.
Occasionally I still feel anxious, but I've learned how to cope. Here are five tips which help:
1. Journal. You can choose to journal in "morning pages" style - Julia Cameron's Morning Pages are essentially stream of consciousness writing. You just sit down and write whatever words come into your mind. Disconnected thoughts and sentences are fine. You can repeat a single word, if you like.
Or, you can journal about yourself and your life, writing about your concerns.
It's helpful to journal about whatever you're trying to write. Writing about a project objectifies it, and reduces anxiety.
2. Meditate. Meditation is just sitting still, and accepting whatever comes. I've been meditating off and on for many years, so I can quiet my mind much more easily than I could when I started meditating. I recommend Kelly Howell's programs if you're a new meditator.
3. Write in a new place - a restaurant, a coffee shop, or in a park. I've no idea why switching writing places works, but it does.
4. Be willing to write junk. Tell yourself that writing is rewriting (which it is) and give yourself permission to write garbage - and keep on writing garbage if that's what happens. Paradoxically, some of the best writing you will ever do happens on days when you're happy just to string some words together. Having low expectations works. :-)
5. Get a writing buddy, or join a writing class, where the emphasis is on writing, rather than critiquing. When you're writing in a group, there's a group energy which makes it easier to write.
Join a group which doesn't critique. Very few people know how to critique writing, and for a new writer, critiques aren't helpful. In fact a critique may stop you writing for months or years when you're suffering writing anxiety.
Resource: My ebook "Top 70 Writing Tips To Help You To Write More" contains lots of other tips which help you to write, no matter how stressed you are.
Technorati Tags: 100 ways to be more creative, be more productive, creativity, practice your writing, writing
Recent Comments