Writers: What Scares You the Most?

“The thing that is scaring you the most is exactly what you need to do.”

I was listening to a podcast this morning—successful entrepreneurs James Schramko, Dean Hunt, and Peter Parks talking about what makes them tick. The question was raised: “What advice would you give to yourself if you could go back to when you were first starting out?” That’s when James Schramko came out with the line above.

Does this ring true to you? I bet it does. It rang like a gong in my ears. Every freelance writer knows what it’s like to dance around an idea as if it will somehow miraculously arise on its own and spontaneously come to fruition. Anyone who’s ever dated knows this syndrome.

But it’s one thing to serve up platitudes about breaking through your fears and blah blah blah. Everyone knows we shouldn’t be ruled by fear, that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself, and so on.

This is a far more interesting point. James is saying that precisely…the very thing… you’re most afraid of…is exactly what you need to do.

So why does THIS particular task, concept, or story idea stand out as The Scary One?

Here’s one possibility: It’s your best shot. It’s the single thing that you absolutely know will most advance your career. Wow. The Big One. The idea begins to grow out of proportion. It takes over. It becomes your identity. If you sit on it, at least it will never get rejected. It’ll always be there for you to fondle, to look back on like a musty old memento. “One of these days….” But if you put it out and it gets shot down, your entire being would suffer. The end of life as you know it.

Here’s another possibility: The reason it’s scary to you is simply because you know it’s a dang good idea. Not a make-or-break-your-career deal. Just a solid idea. Some of the psychology above is at play, but really, the reason it’s scary is this:

Things will change when you act on it.

One way or another, things will change. Maybe that seems scary, but it’s GOOD. By definition, your life can never be the same once you take action on that One Scary Thing.

Same-ol’ same-ol’ is death to writers. We succeed by stretching, by trying new things.

So what’s scaring you right now? Different things are scary at different points in our careers. I’ll toss out a few possibilities:

• Writing your first query letter
• Following up on that query you sent out six months ago
• Pitching a big-time publication
• Asking to interview a source who will help you with a great story pitch
• Putting together a book proposal
• Writing an ebook
• Starting your own blog
• Quitting your day job
• Taking a writing course
• Trying a new avenue of writing: copywriting, for instance
• Creating your portfolio website
• Pitching a whole rash of stories to publications that pay real money
• Offering to guest post on someone’s blog
• Leveraging your writing in a new way, such as learning Internet marketing
• Continuing your education
• Attending a writer’s conference
• Teaching a course in writing
• Getting your clips together
• Revising some rejected stories and pitches to make them viable
• Buying useful reference materials that will help you write or market better

Whatever your One Scary Thing is, please realize that the second scenario is what’s true. It’s a dang good idea, not your identity. No matter what happens, your being will remain intact.

You’ll have more great ideas and you may stand at more Scary Thing thresholds. But each time you move forward anyway, you’ll become more successful.

You’ll change. You’ll grow. You’ll succeed.

Tagged as: writers and fear