The Scary Truth of Writing and Publishing

Originally published here

And why you should do it anyway!!

Writing and publishing are scary. It can be exhilarating, but it also means that you are putting yourself out there for judgment. What if people don’t like what I have to say? Will they judge me? These fears are human, we all experience them at some point in our lives. The good news is that writing and publishing don’t have to be so daunting! In this blog post, we will discuss the fears of writing and why it won’t hurt as much as you think!

1. Self-doubt

There are many sources for self-doubt — whether it’s something else happening in your life or a thought you have about yourself. When it comes to writing and self-doubt, you can’t let this get in the way of your feelings and self-esteem. You have to remember that it’s just about how you feel when writing!

Self-doubt is a common fear for writers to experience. It manifests in many different ways from self-doubt as an emotion or thought, self-doubt in self-worth, self-doubt over one’s own ability to write, or self-doubt of the quality and merit of their work.

It’s important to self-reflect on what self-doubt means to you. You are in control of your own self-doubt and feelings when writing. You can’t let it make or break how you feel about yourself as a writer! The best way to handle self-doubt is by just starting something, anything — even if it’s a short social media post. Or even start engaging with your potential readers by commenting on others’ articles or posts.

2. Fear of rejection

We learn this and have been trained to avoid this throughout our lives. We hesitate to ask someone out on a date, don’t ask for a promotion, and skip applying for a new job.

No. Not good enough… not for us at this time… Sounds familiar? Does that make you want to try again or does it trigger feelings of being rejected? I am guessing that for most of us it’s the latter.

In anticipation of getting rejected or not having your work accepted by editors, publishers, your work colleagues — ask yourself:

What’s the worst that could happen?

You are rejected.

Exactly. You can’t dwell on what might not happen, but you can worry about and prepare for it if you know it will be a possibility. And then of course there is always rejection to consider; when is enough time going to come along so that we never have to face this fear again? That may seem like an impossible feat, or maybe just wishful thinking from our end part — but surely something has got to give soon as this is such a pervasive problem in people’s lives today (and yesterday). Until then all we can do is continue writing out those fears with an open mind…

Fewer than one in a hundred people share what they have created with others. You are already one step ahead.

3. Fear of public opinion

Would I get comments on my blog or my article on LinkedIn? Would someone be rude to me or call me names if I shared something personal?

These are not the only fears of public opinion. There’s also the fear that people will think less of you for being honest about your life and experiences because they’ll see it as unprofessional.

So many writers are afraid to share their work with others, worrying that it won’t be accepted or they will get negative feedback. But what if you don’t take any risks at all? It means never knowing your potential and holding yourself back from reaching success! Being brave enough to put out there is not only an opportunity for encouragement (or hope) but also allows people the chance of giving constructive criticism which can help us grow in other areas as well. There’s nothing wrong with our writing staying private because we know how hard we’ve worked on this piece so why let someone else tell us otherwise? So go for it. Publish it!

4. Fear of failure

You are putting yourself out there in a way that is scary. That fear of failure can be paralyzing and cause you to do nothing, but it’s also motivating if used correctly. You are more than capable as long as you take the first step and face your fears head-on!

It’s normal to feel scared when publishing something for public consumption — it really feels like we’re putting ourselves out there in a vulnerable position — but we have power over our thoughts which means that anything can be overcome with enough repetition. Fear does not need to rule us; instead, let’s harness those feelings into motivation so they work FOR us rather than against us!

5. Why you should do it anyway

Overcoming fear is the key to success; we must not let fear stop us from trying new things. I know that’s easier said than done. But writing and publishing this blog post has been a big step for me. I hope it motivates you to do the same! What if someone thinks this blog post is stupid and not helpful at all? But I wrote it and published it anyway.

6. The benefits to writing and publishing your thoughts, ideas, and opinions on the internet for all to see without fear or shame

The benefit of publishing your thoughts on the internet are plentiful: you get feedback from people who may agree or disagree with what you’re saying; they help connect dots by linking to other posts which provide different perspectives; sometimes a question pops into my head after reading someone else’s article (I wouldn’t have thought of that!), so then I go research more and write an entirely new blog post about something completely unrelated!

We all have fears of writing and publishing our thoughts, ideas, opinions. It’s hard to put yourself out there because you don’t know how people will react or what they’ll think about it. But guess what? Writing is not as bad as we make it sound. If anything, the worst thing that can happen is someone doesn’t like your opinion on a subject matter- which means their reaction was thoughtful enough for them to disagree with you in the first place! That’s actually pretty cool if you think about it; especially when so many people just agree with everything without weighing in at all. So instead of being afraid of something awesome happening (someone might find your work interesting), go for it and just start typing. If that’s still too hard, let me know, I might be round to help you write a paragraph or two.

Please share your thoughts below.