Tips to Ditch the Writer’s Doubt
By Carrie Severson
Right before my client hit submit, she wondered who would ever really read her story. She questioned the power of her own experiences. And she closed the tab before she sent in her story. Her fear of being seen got the better of her yet again.
My journey as a storyteller started 20 years ago in a college press room. I was eager to share stories with the 45,000 students on Arizona State University campus. At the same time, I was scared out of my mind I wasn’t doing it right.
After a few years in the field of journalism, I knew how to tell a good tale. It wasn’t until I moved out of journalism and into the genre of personal essay writing that I became aware of writer’s doubt.
Writer’s doubt is worse than writer’s block in my experience. We do it to ourselves. We stop ourselves, talk trash to ourselves, keep ourselves stuck and paralyzed in fear. We don’t give others the chance to read our work because we’re so certain they’d hate it.
I’m a storyteller trainer. I am also an intuitive and have been working my spiritual and storytelling journey for nearly a decade now. I believe strongly in the power of story and help women around the world share their stories. There’s an energy to every story we tell. And when we get out of our own way and write from a heart-centered place, our stories act as magnets in life. When we share our stories, we’re putting something out into the world. The energy will create a ripple effect of some kind.
Tips to help you move past your own doubt and get back in alignment with your stories.
- Don’t let the fear of judgment stop you from sharing your craft. When I start to create stories, I envision the reader. She’s in her chair, with her tablet in hand, searching for what I have to say. My lessons are for her and my work improves her life somehow. I keep her in mind throughout my entire piece and she helps move me through the fear of having a story told.
- Your writing is a muscle. It’s easy to not do this work. We have to schedule our writing. Writers are brands today and it takes a lot of effort to increase awareness, get published and share our stories with the world. It’s easy to do everything else but the work. But without the work, our readers can’t learn from us. So I give myself this gift of showing up every day with my light on ready to write.
- Join support groups to help you recognize the power of your work and stories. We all know what it feels like to be afraid of having a piece out in the world for thousands, possibly millions, of people to read, absorb and share. Writers know how to support writers. Join some sort of supportive group and start collecting your own tribe!
Like writer’s block, unless you deal with writer’s doubt it doesn’t just disappear. It could fade for a while, but it’ll come back time and time again.
Want more? Join Carrie’s e-course on fighting Writer’s Doubt, Ditch the Writer’s Doubt, here.
Carrie Severson is a writer, intuitive and storyteller trainer for inspired women in the world. She believes in the power of a story and is on a mission to heal the world through stories.
She writes about her personal life for outlets like MindBodyGreen.com, YogaToday.com, Sheknows.com and Redbook.com.
Learn more about Carrie at http://www.storytellingyourwaytosuccess.com.
Chair & Pen publishes stories on the writing process and the writing life. It is edited and curated by Writing Coach Annalisa Parent. To learn more about how to work with Annalisa, visit www.DateWithTheMuse.com
Think you’ve got a good idea for our e-zine? Click here to send your pitch.
