Your voice matters: A guide for introverted writers

In several coaching calls this month, my clients have shared a common concern: “I want to write, but I have nothing original to say. I’m afraid people will read my writing and wonder who I think I am. Everything has already been said.”

For writers of any kind, these objections are frequent companions, warning the tentative off the writing path. In our content-driven world, it is easy to feel overwhelmed by the number of voices already in the media. There are also gifts in this content-driven world, and that is you can enter the water at any time. You can create content, conversation, and community in ways not previously available. Yet we hold ourselves back, believing that writing nothing is better than writing something less than original and perfect.

But what if writing and putting something out there wasn’t about the conversation you had with the world and building an audience or funnel exclusively? What if it was also about answering the internal call to action and wisdom?

We often begin with the end in mind — “I want to write an article on this,” “I want to write this book,” “I want this result.” The joy and simple beauty of writing is that you can explore, open up, meander, and double back in early drafts if you allow yourself the space and time in a nonjudgmental environment to just write.

Here are some ways to clear the path to write:

Detach from any outcome

We front load our anticipation of reception — we decide that no one will want to read us. We decide that we aren’t original. We decide that we will be viewed as a fraud. These preemptive judgments build a limiting container for our writing even before we begin. Instead, write because what you want to share needs to be written, because you are feeling called to share. You cannot control the outcome, but you can put pen to paper or fingers to a keyboard and create.

And sure, we all want readers. And we don’t need to be shy about that. Say that out loud and work to gain readership. But don’t place the value of your writing in the likes or views. The act is enough in and of itself.

Create safety for yourself

In rooms full of people, when we need innovation, creativity, and vulnerability (and you cannot create without some degree of vulnerability), hopefully we set up rules of engagement. The goal of those rules is to foster an environment where people ideate and share in some measure of safety. Create those for yourself. Create a zone of safety where you can be curious, write what you may never want to publish, leave room for discovery and indeed vulnerability. This might mean you suspend judgment, you say yes to ideas, you write without editing for a while. Write those rules down and keep them near so you feel safe while you are writing.

Don’t just lower the bar, remove it

We tell ourselves this consistent story — I must have an original idea to write. Original ideas. Original. No one has ever had that idea in their life. That idea hasn’t crossed a single person’s mind. Of the thousands of years of human existence, an idea needs to come to you that NO ONE has ever had? My friend, that bar is too high.

What is original, what has never been and never will be, is you. It is how you have come to know and interpret the world based on your experiences, your spirit, your relationships, your thought processes, your healing, your avoidance, your physical presence. You are the only one who can write what you write.

Understand that writing is answering the call

The urge to write can come from a lot of places, but where the urge gains energy, continues to light a corner of your mind, that is where you pay attention. And when you choose to write, and I hope that you do, understand that you are accepting the assignment to open your wisdom and your insights if only to the page. And let that in and of itself be enough. Let it be enough that you are being called, and that you are answering that call. In doing so, you are voting for yourself. You are engaged in an activity that believes in your possibility and your voice.

In the act of answering that call, you may and I would venture to say you will, access wisdom that the writing path can lead you to if you stay open during the writing. Your writing does not need to be esoteric or earth shattering to access that wisdom. The more you write, the easier it will be to do it. You can set aside the critics and judgments and create with freedom.

My Intovert Pep Talk

I wrapped up my first article on the introvert’s guide to marketing with this thought, and it feels right to say it again: The world needs your voice. But more importantly, you need your voice. Put your thoughts on the page. Maybe, just maybe, people will tune in. But even if they don’t, you’ll have shared your talents and honored your voice along the way.

Get out there, my introverted friend. We eagerly await your voice!