The Complete Guide to Overcoming Doubt and Fear as a Writer

Keep writing even when you think you’re not good enough

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This is a long, in-depth guide on how to overcome your doubts and fears as a writer. If you’d like to have it for future reference, download the PDF version here.

Throughout my childhood, I always had a project I was working on. It could be a novel, a short story, a poem, or even a song. While I never had the discipline to finish any of the stories, it was still fun to always come up with new ideas.

Before I got my first computer, I wrote entirely by hand. I had so many notebooks that contained all my random story ideas.

One particular notebook was dearest to me because it contained my newest obsession. I was fifteen at the time.

Anytime inspiration struck, I would be hunched over the large table in the middle of our living room, scribbling inside my notebook like a child possessed. Nothing ever mattered. Until someone would try and snoop behind me to see what I was so aggressively writing, then I would snap the book shut.

When I wasn’t writing, I secured my notebook in a place no one would find, because I didn’t want anyone reading it. I would rather walk through the furnace of Hell while quenching my thirst with acid before I ever let anyone read any of my stories.

My notebook was a treasure and I was the dragon guarding it with my last breath.

But one day, however, I made a grave mistake.

While I was writing, I felt the urge to get up and leave. I don’t remember why but I do know I was supposed to return in a few minutes to continue writing. There was no way in hell I would just leave my notebook and it a day. Maybe I went to pee or something. I don’t know.

I returned a few minutes later only to be met with a sight that almost gave me cardiac arrest. My older cousin was flipping through the pages of my notebook with intrigue.

She remembers this event quite differently, but I believe her version. She said that I screamed at her in rage, rushed up towards her like some goddamn maniac, and snatched my notebook from her hands while glaring at her with the intensity of a thousand suns.

My outburst was so terrifying and sudden that one would think I had just stopped her from harvesting my kidneys.

I don’t particularly remember this aggressive reaction over a notebook. I was, and still am a very calm and collected person. While I easily got angry as a kid and would often blow up on the slightest provocation, I had more control over my temper in my teens (and even better control now in my late twenties).

And yet, I never for a second doubted what my cousin said about me because I know myself very well. As a nonconfrontational person, I usually let things go even if it makes me unhappy. But I firmly drew the line at people touching my stuff without my permission, most especially my priceless notebook.

Now, you may be wondering. What made this notebook so special to me that I was ready to maim anyone who dared touch it? Was it my diary containing all of my secrets? Had I written some nefarious sex story I wanted no one to read about? Did it contain my evil plans for world domination?

Nope. None of the good stuff. It was just a coming-of-age novel about a young girl. That was it. Nothing interesting.

Years later in our mid-twenties, when my cousin reminded me of this memory, we both laughed at how comical the whole thing was.

But as I write this article, thinking back at what could have possessed me to react in such a dramatic and possibly violent manner, I realize that it was much deeper than that. It wasn’t simply because I hated when people touched my stuff.

It was fear — the fear of people reading my work.

I was afraid that my cousin would think my story was stupid and make fun of it. My fragile ego couldn’t handle it. So I screamed at her to get away.

This one event is a perfect example of how I let doubt and fear poison not only my creativity but all aspects of my life.

And here’s the depressing part. The fear of not being good enough — that people think your writing is ridiculous and just flat-out bad — is something way too many writers struggle with.

You would rather die than let anyone see your work. Or if you’re courageous enough to let someone read it, you convince yourself that they would hate it.

Ironically, you believe you’re a pretty decent writer. No scratch that. You think you’re God’s gift to fucking humanity. A Literary Messiah among mere mortals.

And yet, on the other hand, you feel like you’re the worst writer to walk this Earth. The moment someone asks to read your work, bile bloats up your stomach, and you’re instantly numb with fear.

If you feel this way, you’re not alone.

Writers the world over sense this shadow of doubt and fear looming over them, a noose around their neck. How do I know this? Other than being haunted by this feeling myself, I see so many writers talk about this on social media.

Besides, I run The Write Network Newsletter where I talk about the life, craft, and business of writing. In my emails, I always encourage my subscribers to reach out to me anytime.

Many do indeed reach out and I reply to all of them. Some say they find my emails helpful, which is always great to hear. Others also share their struggles with me and ask for my advice. Two of the most pressing questions I often get are about how to make money as a writer and how to overcome doubts and fears.

One such email from a dear subscriber — let’s call her V — prompted me to write this.

While I replied to the email, trying my best to share insights that would help V, I also promised to create a guide that would go deeper into overcoming the feeling of not being good enough.

I wanted to do this because I know from experience that if this fear goes unchecked, it can hinder you from unleashing your creativity to the fullest. You’ll end up with a massive writer’s block, not because you hate writing, but because you can’t bring yourself to write no matter how much you try.

Fear paralyzes you from taking the next step.

It applies to many things in life, not just writing. As one who used to be timid and suffered from extreme social anxiety, I dared not try new things because I was afraid to fail.

My fear of failure was not even about me. It wasn’t about disappointing myself. No. I was afraid of what others would think of me. Which is fucking insane.

How the hell do you give people so much power over your life? It’s the worst thing you can do to yourself. As a writer, this fear will kill your creativity. You really, really, don’t want that. If there’s one thing I want you to take from this guide, then it’s this:

Keep writing even when you’re afraid of not being good enough.

It’s easier said than done. I know. But it’s the only way. I’ll do my best to show you how I do it. Hopefully, you’ll gain a new perspective that will help you solve your problem.

Do you want to write?

The crux of V’s pain boiled down to this:

She was having “a major creative block.” Her creative block wasn’t because “there are no ideas to work on.” Rather, it’s because she’s “not able to produce content even if there’s a strong will to do so.”

To her credit, she understood the root cause of this problem after a lot of reflection. It was because she was “not so confident about her skills and writing altogether.”

Reading V’s email reminded me of my younger self. I often went for weeks or even months without writing a single thing because of writer’s block. It had nothing to do with the lack of ideas — I always had ideas. I just never felt the urge to write because I thought it wouldn’t be good enough anyway.

I resolved this issue by asking myself one simple question. In trying to help V, I asked her this same question.

Do you want to write?

Now don’t get me wrong. It wasn’t meant to be condescending at all. I wasn’t trying to do some gotcha moment of “well, if you want to write, then you’ll just write” bullshit.

I mean, who knows? Maybe, it’s indeed that simple. If you want to write, you will write. Sure. Except, it usually doesn’t feel that simple in real life. If it were, no one would ever have writer’s block.

Do you want to write?

Of course, you wake up sometimes feeling super energetic, and the thought of writing doesn’t feel like a chore. At that moment, it’s easy to say you want to write.

But that’s not what I’m talking about.

The essence of this question is to understand with absolute clarity what writing (or the lack of it) does to your spirit.

When you’re bursting with creative energy, do you get lost in a world where nothing else matters but to bring your words to life? Or would you rather want to do something else?

Do you feel whole, one with the universe, as you tap into your creative power no matter whether you’re good at it or not? Or do you wish you could do something far more worth your time?

And when you don’t write, do you have that nagging feeling at the back of your mind like you’re committing some grave crime against humanity? Or do you feel just fine and never care about not writing?

Do you feel irritable and anxious when you go for a certain length of time without writing? Or do you just not give a fuck?

See where I’m going with these questions?

If for some reason you could never write again, how would your life feel?

I feel happiest when I write without a care in the world of what people think. It’s sacred, the closest thing to divinity. I don’t care if people read my work, love it, or hate it. It’s purely about enjoying the process and getting lost in a flow state.

In this state, doubt and fear are meaningless. I write simply because I want to. Period. Even if I don’t make money from writing, I don’t care. I mean, money is a nice bonus. But that’s not the driving force of why I write.

When I go for about a week (sometimes less) without writing anything, I feel all sorts of negative emotions. I get irritable, lost, ill, and freaking homicidal.

This isn’t a metaphor. I literally feel this way.

Life only becomes worth living again when I get back into the routine of writing.

This has happened to me enough times to know that writing is a necessary part of my life. Without it, a core part of myself is missing.

If writing is so meaningful to your spirit that not doing it can literally make you sick, then yes, you do want to write.

If you don’t feel any of that pressure, that’s also fine. You’re better off finding what lights up your soul and dedicating your life to it.

Thankfully, when I asked V if she wanted to write, her answer was a resounding yes.

In her own words, she feels stressed when she doesn’t write. While she doesn’t know if she’s a ‘writer material’ or not, her inner voice screams that it’s indeed the best thing she can do for her soul.

Once you figure out that writing fuels your spirit like food nourishes your body, you can now probe deeper and identify what could be blocking your creativity, keeping you in limbo.

Understand the emotion behind your resistance

It’s quite the paradox, isn’t it?

If you love writing so much, what’s stopping you from pursuing it?

Why are you so afraid?

Every time you procrastinate, guilt eats you alive for never doing the thing you claim you’re passionate about. You’ve tried everything to pull yourself out of the slump, but it’s all futile.

Stop for a moment.

First, understand that your resistance is driven by one of two emotions (or both):

1. Boredom
2. Anxiety

Imagine you’re playing a video game that’s stupidly easy to win each time. Say you have the skills of a level 50 player but you’re playing against level 1 players over and over again.

The game isn’t challenging enough. It’s way too easy because your skills are far more advanced than the level you’re playing at. How will you feel?

That’s right. You become bored. And when you’re bored, you no longer want to play the game. You’d rather do something else.

The same thing can happen to the activity of writing.

Maybe you don’t like the topics you write about. Or your ideas don’t excite you enough. You have the skills, yes. But the ideas you come up with are just blah. Without excitement, you don’t feel the need to write.

Or perhaps, you haven’t gained the skills to pursue things that challenge and fire you up. So, you get bored, which effectively holds you hostage. Never wanting to try anything.

At the other end of the spectrum is anxiety. Using the video game analogy, imagine you’re only a level 1 player who barely knows the rules of the game, with very little skill. And then suddenly, you’re thrown up against a level 50 player.

Yeah, you’re screwed.

No matter how hard you try, you’ll be fucking annihilated. Forget about winning by luck. It’s all a matter of skill — something you sorely lack. Losing repeatedly will make you anxious. Unless you’re a masochist, you wouldn’t want to play a losing game anymore.

The notorious twins, doubt and fear, are rooted in anxiety. If you feel insecure about your writing skills, and think you’re not good enough, the fear of failing stops you from ever trying.

Maybe you want to write but don’t know where to start or what to write. Seeing other writers with more followers and making more money intimidates you. When will you reach such a level? Doubt poisons your mind.

Slowly, you lose your drive and dedicate less and less time to your craft.

this is what anxiety does. It inflates your flaws and limitations. So you quit before you make any meaningful progress.

I’ve gone through this cycle at varying intensities throughout my life. However, my anxiety towards writing reached new heights at the beginning of 2024. Throughout the last quarter of 2023, I was struggling to write simply because my computer had turned into a zombie. It was so fucking slow that something that should take me an hour took me the entire fucking day. Literally. It made writing a chore.

Yet, I persisted, until things escalated and got morbidly worse in January 2024.

By then, I had gotten so frustrated by the entire writing process that I dreaded it. I never once tried to write anything during that time because it would be a waste of time. January 2024 was one of the lowest points of my creative life, simply because I was way too anxious to function.

It was less about my writing skills and more about the level of my writing tools. A piece of junk, really, that computer.

But once I got a new laptop at the end of the month, the anxiety disappeared immediately. Suddenly, I was flooded with the urge to write every single day. Why? Because the underlying problem causing my resistance was gone.

And that’s the thing, when you eradicate boredom and anxiety, you unlock an optimal state where nothing else matters, but to create.

This is the flow state.

Nothing is too easy or too difficult for your current skill level. It’s just perfect enough to spark your creativity to life.

But how do you overcome boredom and anxiety?

They’re both caused by the lack of clarity.

You’re bored or anxious because you don’t have clarity about what to do. Despite all your skills and knowledge, you still have no idea what to focus on, so boredom sets in. Meanwhile, lacking the skills to work on something that’s way out of your league leaves you anxious.

But once you become certain of what to do next, everything falls into place.

Gain Clarity

To overcome anxiety (doubts and fears), you must gain clarity. Here’s how to do that.

1. Know why you write

Yes, you want to write. But why?

Different people write for different reasons. Some write just for fun. It’s merely a hobby and has absolutely nothing to do with making a living.

Others write to grow a personal brand, build a business, and make a lot of money.

No answer is right or wrong. The important part is that you’re honest with yourself about why you write so you can follow the plan necessary to accomplish your goals.

Through experimentation over the years, I realized that I write for three major reasons:

1. I write for clarity of thought. This is journaling where I pour out my raw innermost feelings and thoughts. I do a lot of self-reflection, gain new perspectives, and declutter my brain. I usually do this at the end of every week, month, and year to review my progress towards my goals. This kind of writing is meant for my eyes only so I never publish it.
2. I write to channel my creative energy into something meaningful for myself. This is why I write fiction. I just love conjuring worlds and populating them with characters and conflict. It gives me a sense of high I don’t get from anywhere else. The purpose is not to make money but to enjoy myself. I’m lucky to have readers who love my stories. But to be honest, creating is not about my readers. It’s about the rush I feel when I do it. Purely selfish.
3. I write to make a living. Yes, I also write for money. If not, I will fucking starve. This is where I write for my audience, to entertain (intrigue), empower (inspire), or enlighten (inform) them. It’s about selflessness.

The third reason feeds into the second. The better I can support myself without worrying about bills and stuff, the more creative I become. The more selfless I am, the more selfish I can be. A virtuous cycle.

These are the reasons why I write. Yours might be very different. But you need to know what they are so you can apply the following steps correctly.

2. Create a plan

At the early stages of my writing career when I had no fucking idea what I was doing, I used to get frustrated by why I wasn’t making any money. What the hell was I doing wrong?

Well, it turned out that I was doing a lot of things wrong. For starters, while I wanted to make money from my writing, I did it as a hobby. There was no sense of urgency or seriousness. Just vibes and shit.

So of course, since my actions didn’t match my goals, I never made the progress I expected.

Imagine you’re trying to build a writing business and all you do is show up only when you feel like it just to write a few hundred words or so. Good luck with that.

Eventually, you’re going to get frustrated. Then you start doubting yourself, wondering if you’re even good enough to do this.

What you need is a plan that matches your why. This was how I turned my fear of never making money online into actually making money. But that only became possible once I swapped my useless plan with a competent one.

I call my plan the 3C Strategy.

The 3 C’s stand for Create, Capture, and Convert.

Create is the foundation of everything.

It encompasses writing, editing, publishing, and designing graphics and book covers for my stories. I create every single day. Monday to Sunday. It doesn’t matter if I write only a hundred words a day or five thousand. It doesn’t matter if I’m editing or designing. If it’s fiction or nonfiction. I must create. Every day.

This is more than just a plan. It’s my philosophy.

Now, if all I wanted to do was write stories for myself, then the Create part of the 3C Strategy would be enough.

But I also write to make money. And that’s where capture and convert come in.

I must Capture an audience who loves what I write and eventually Convert them into paying readers. Currently, I do that by selling my books. However, I’m in the process of building a subscription business using this same plan. I’ll tell you all about it when it’s ready.

But for now, the point I’m making is that ambitious goals require ambitious plans. And by the way, an ambitious plan doesn’t have to be complicated.

Sure, you can write for fun without the pressure of making money from it. But then don’t expect to make money when you’re merely treating it as a hobby.

You’re frustrated with your progress because you’re using the wrong plan. If you want to accomplish your goals, change your plan. Period.

3. Develop a system

So you’ve identified your why and created a solid plan. Cool. But that’s not enough.

I have a folder on my computer that delves into the 3C Strategy. Once in a while, I review it and make updates as I build my business.

But just because I have a detailed strategy doesn’t mean my business will become a success. No. My chance of success only increases once I put in the consistent actions required to make the plan work.

This is the purpose of a writing system.

It distills your plan into actionable steps you take daily until you reach your goal.

Creating art, capturing attention, and converting that attention into income is the heart of my entire writing business.

On the macro level, it sounds complex and ambitious. But on a micro level, it’s basic stuff. All I have to do is perform small but important tasks every single day that get me closer to my grand vision. This is my writing system.

Without going too much into the details, my daily writing system looks like this:

I wake up every day at 4 am, work out, and shower.

Then I start creating (writing, editing, or designing) at 5:oo a.m. until 8:oo a.m. It’s not always exactly from 5–8 a.m. But my productivity is usually capped at 3 hours in the morning.

It’s taken me a while to lock firmly into this routine so you may have come across slight variations in my other articles and guides.

Nevertheless, the first three hours of my day are sacred. Once I commit these three hours to creation, I feel good about myself the whole day. When I mess up my routine, I become anxious and it fucks up my entire day.

My system for capturing is using techniques that gain attention — writing attractive headlines, leaving CTA’s at the end of my stories, building an email list, you know, the usual.

As for converting, I’m still in the early stages of my subscription business, so I haven’t started yet. But when it comes to selling books, I do it mainly through email marketing. Yes, you can go buy my paranormal romance novel if you’re into forbidden love tropes between witches and demons.

Okay, let’s focus.

Your plan outlines your vision and goals. Your system shows you how to turn that vision into reality.

Don’t think of a goal as this big thing that must happen in the next 12 months (or years). Instead, break things down month by month, and week by week. Then ask yourself what you have to do daily for the next 365 days to accomplish it.

A writing system can be broken down into the following stages:

• ideation (brainstorming ideas)
• outlining
• drafting (writing)
• revising
• publishing

Whether you’re working on a novel, writing a newsletter or blog, or running a freelance writing business, you must carve out time every day to work on each stage

This is how you gain clarity. And it’s the foundation of your success regardless of why you write.

Understand your why, create a plan for it, and develop a system to bring it to life. Do this and you’ll never be lost ever again.

Every day, you’ll wake up feeling energized, looking forward to the day because you have a purpose. You have clarity. Whether you think you’re good enough or not will be irrelevant because all you care about is getting stuff done. One day, you’ll look back and be proud of yourself for doing what matters.

If you don’t have a writing system yet and are struggling to form a consistent writing habit, my free guide can help you out.

Why you should keep writing even if you’re not good enough

Let’s be real. No matter how much clarity you gain, you’ll still struggle with doubt and fear. Sometimes, you’ll wake up feeling like thrash. As if this writing thing is a whole fucking waste of your time.

Even the most seasoned writers are not immune to this. Sure, they have better control over it, but it never truly goes away. They’ve just learned to write through it anyway.

This is good news for us, mere mortals.

You don’t need to be fearless to do something. You just have to do it anyway.

Even when publishing your work online terrifies you, publish it anyway.

If you’re afraid your business will fail, build it anyway.

And if you think you’re not good enough, write anyway.

Here are two reasons why:

1. You get better with practice

No one starts something with perfect knowledge or skill. You might have a knack for it because of some genetic advantage. But in the end, you attain mastery through deliberate practice.

There’s no doubt LeBron James’s physical quality contributes to his dominance in the game of basketball. But that alone isn’t the whole story. In fact, attributing his success solely to his height and stature is an insult to his mastery of the game.

He’s a great player because he’s been training consistently for years. I’m sure if you compare his skills today to when he first started, there’s a world of difference simply because he’s had time to refine his skills.

And this isn’t only in sports. It applies to all fields of life. Including writing.

In the beginning, you’ll suck. But if you stick with it by practicing deliberately, you’ll get better.

So yeah, maybe you’re not a great writer. Who cares? As long as you love writing, keep at it.

You want to write fiction but your storytelling skill is shit? Who cares? Write anyway. Practice writing scenes. Learn story structure. Learn to write dialogue. Never stop learning, never stop practicing.

Do you want to write a newsletter? Or maybe blog about topics you’re passionate about? Go for it. Stop worrying about how bad you are. You will suck in the beginning. Everyone does.

So did I. Well, I probably still do. But who fucking cares? Certainly not me. I’m still going to write anyway. After all, I’m a better writer today than I was a year ago. And a year from now, I’ll be even better.

In the end, you compete with only yourself and no one else.

Every day you practice is an investment in your future mastery.

So keep writing.

2. You will be glad you never quit

I started writing on Medium in November 2022. Everything felt so unnecessarily difficult in the beginning. So many times I wanted to quit because I didn’t have clarity.

Through experimentation, I learned new ways of doing things, got new ideas, and adopted new processes.

Today, almost fifteen months later, I am so glad I never quit. I thank my past self every day for persevering no matter how hard it got. Because today, through the power of compounding, I’m reaping the benefits of my past efforts.

If you keep at it, you’ll thank yourself later.

In the early stages, everything seems hard. You feel like you’ll never make progress.

That’s a deception. You will make progress. But it will take time — maybe months or years. When you quit though, your chances of success will be zero.

What if you quit and later see the people you started with accomplishing so much? How will you feel? Will you regret it? I don’t know about you, but I surely will.

I hate having regrets. It’s what drives me to work on my goals no matter what.

If you don’t want to have any regrets, then keep writing. Even if you’re only doing it for fun, it’s still valid. Do it for fun. It will make your life more meaningful.

Final thoughts

Damn, this was long. But knowing from experience how dangerous it is to let doubt and fear take over your life, I wanted to create a detailed guide to help you figure things out and make writing more enjoyable.

We all feel like we’re not good enough from time to time. But to overcome it, you must understand the emotions behind this feeling. It’s mainly because of anxiety. Anxiety makes you doubt yourself and paralyzes you with fear.

To overcome this, gain clarity — know why you write, create a plan for it, and develop a writing system to get it done.

Always remember that you’ll suck in the beginning. It doesn’t mean you should quit. Rather, develop your skills through consistent practice. It’s the only way to master your craft.

Let your doubts and fears fuel you to greatness.

You’re amazing. Thanks for reading.

If you’d like a PDF copy of this guide for future reference, download it for free.

Want to develop a writing system to build a solid writing habit? Download this free guide.

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