Writing Through Fear: How to Turn Anxiety Into Creative Strength

From Edie: Discover how writers can transform fear and anxiety into creative strength. Learn 3 practical ways to face the blank page with courage and confidence.

Writing Through Fear: How to Turn Anxiety Into Creative Strength

by Tim Suddeth @TimSuddeth

Have you ever considered that the fear you have may actually be a strength?

I’ve put off writing this article all week. Which, when I think about it, is silly. I love writing, and I’m excited about my subject. I already have the outline and the points I want to make. But instead of sitting down to write, I’ve:

• Yelled at the dogs.
• Barked at my wife.
• And washed the sheets. Even though we’d washed them just yesterday. But we all know sheets can never be too clean, right?

You’re laughing at me because you know that what I’m going through is common. You’ve seen these activities, or similar ones, when you put off doing something. The little chores that you’ve put off must now be done before you can move on.

Even though I’ve written hundreds of articles, I still feel that little something that makes me want to put it off. Whether it’s fear of failure, fear of not measuring up, or fear of … well, something else.

And then there’s Alex Katz. At 98 years young, Alex has been painting for over 70 years. Like many artists, when he first started, people greeted his work with little fanfare. More recently, his paintings have sold for millions of dollars and been exhibited in galleries around the world. I learned about him one recent Sunday morning when I caught his interview on CBS News Sunday Morning. The interviewer, Elaine Quijano, was asking him when he planned to start his next project.

“Sometime, in about a week, I’ll do the first painting of a new series,” Katz said.

“And you seem excited about that?” The interviewer asked.

“Excited and frightened,” he said laughing. “Yeah, I’m scared it won’t work out.”

“So, after all that you’ve accomplished, you still worry?”

“Uh-huh. I want to go where I’m scared. And the new things may be better, they may be worse, but I have to do them.”

Here is an accomplished artist who isn’t ignoring or escaping his fears. Instead of letting fear keep him from his painting, he seeks the very thing that makes him fearful to see to what new places it’ll take him.

Theodore Roosevelt said, “The only man [or woman] who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything.”

Fear of failure is not a little evil imp that is easily ignored. We run into it every day. So, what can we do to prevent fear from keeping us from reaching our goals?

3 Ways to Write Through Your Fears

1. Be Pliable.

Many of us expect to be great on our first attempt. When I joined the seniors’ bowling league, it was a humbling experience. I would throw the ball one way, and it would go another. My team had an 86-year-old lady, Deloris, who couldn’t see the pins. She had a higher average than mine. I was beyond humbled. But I didn’t quit. And my average kept going up.

If you expect to be great on your first try, you’re setting yourself up for a fall. 

Perfectionism handicaps many of us as we go along our writing journey. The idea in our heads seems right out of a Donna Tartt novel. And we expect no less than that when we begin to write. But when we put it on paper—yuck. We rarely appreciate how hard writers work to sculpt and craft their work. And how they organize a team to produce that final, polished product.

Like most good things in life, writing takes practice. Silicon Valley has a saying. “Fail fast. Fail often.” They understand that failure doesn’t have to be final. It’s by taking risks, failing, and then trying a new way that they discover most of their answers.

Instead of holding yourself to a standard that’s impossible to meet, allow yourself to simply try your best. Accept that your first effort might come up short. And that’s okay. Your story may not be picked for a prize, but you were able to get it done by the deadline. You met their guidelines. Even though you didn’t win, you learned some valuable lessons. And those lessons will get you closer to your goal.

Louisa May Alcott said, “I am not afraid of the storms, for I’m learning how to sail my ship.”

2. Be Prepared.

Ah, the Boy Scout’s motto. (Yes, I was a Boy Scout. Long, long ago.) And its wisdom remains just as relevant.

As I write this, there are two hurricanes developing off the east coast. After the immense damage that Helene wrecked on our area last year, we can understand why many of our neighbors are nervous. So, our newscasters have been giving ways to prepare our homes for the storm.

Will that keep the storm from coming or make it less impactful? No. But it can be beneficial when we encounter the feeling of helplessness as the storm nears our area.

Preparation helps with whatever type of success you seek in writing. You need to learn the craft of writing, how to research, and how to submit your work if you’re seeking publication. And you need to know how to edit and hone your work to make it your best before you show it to others.

But writing, like all art, isn’t something you master and then move on. Each project is its own source of teaching. But the more prepared you are, the easier it is to jump into the next project.

3. Be Positive.

We can be our worst enemy. It’s like, at the first whiff of failure, we turn on ourselves and question why we even bother. It is like me starting out on an errand, then giving up because the door’s locked. Just turn the lock.

That’s sounds silly, but don’t we do the same thing in our writing? We tell ourselves, “Why did I even enter that contest? I’m not smart enough, not old enough, too old, not good enough, (fill in your favorite self-putdown).” These are thoughts we would never say about anyone else. But they slip into our self-monologues if we aren’t careful.

II Corinthians 10:5 instructs us to ‘take every thought captive to obey Christ.’ We can learn to guard against letting negative comments sneak into our thoughts. Instead of thinking that they didn’t accept my article because “I’m dumb.” “I’ll never succeed at anything”, maybe I should step back a moment. Are there any changes I need to make? Could I have gotten better information? Did I follow the guidelines? Did I allow enough time to do the job right? And if not, I should decide that I’ll do better next time.

In sports, there is a warning to not let your team’s bad loss become two. No matter how sloppy the effort, don’t let one setback prevent you from performing your best the next time.

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At 98, Alex Katz is still daring to try new works that force him to stretch his abilities. He does it even though he’s aware that it might not work and might set him back in time and money. But like the people in Silicon Valley, he realizes that if he fails, it isn’t the end. It’s just another opportunity to learn.

So, here I am finishing the article I’ve been delaying writing. Is it perfect and error free? (I see you smirk as you wear your editor’s cap.) Of course not. And, as always, I’ll blame it on spellcheck. But this article, as well as the example of Mr. Katz, has encouraged me for when I tackle the next blank page. And it has prepared me to discover the next project to accomplish.

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Writing Through Fear: How to Turn Anxiety Into #Creative Strength from @TimSuddeth on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)

Tim Suddeth is a stay-at-home dad and butler for his wonderful, adult son with autism. He has written numerous blogs posts, short stories, and three novels waiting for publication. He is a frequent attendee at writers conferences, including the Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference and a member of Word Weavers and ACFW. He lives near Greenville, SC where he shares a house with a bossy Shorky and three too-curious Persians. You can find him on Facebook and Twitter, as well as at www.timingreenville.com and www.openingamystery.com.