Writing a Book – Part Three

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In Part Two, I talked about fears that will stop you from writing a book. In Part Three, we’ll go over those fears and see how to get past them. Keep in mind, this is strictly for fears for writing a book. They may or may not work on other fears in your life depending on how deep seated your fears are.

For your homework assignment, (bet you didn’t see that coming!) Take out a piece of paper and list your fears. Leave plenty of space between them. For reference, here’s the list again.

• Fear of not being good enough
• Fear of not being original
• Fear of not being perfect
• Fear of judgement
• Fear of embarrassment

If you have another fear not listed above, feel free to add it to your list. After you have made your list, think of the worst possible outcome if that fear were to come true. For instance, I wrote down “Fear of not being good enough”. The worst possible outcome would be that my book would fall flat and I will have wasted time and energy in writing the book.

Do that for each fear you have listed.

Now for the fun part, go back to the top of your list and ask yourself honestly if it really matters if the worst case scenario came true. Write your reasoning under the fear.

For example, this is what I came up with.

• Fear of not being good enough
• Book will fall flat and wasted time and energy
• I have nothing to prove to anyone. I enjoy writing and I’m learning so this is not a waste of time or energy

• Fear of judgement
• My ego will be deflated and I’ll slip back into extreme low self-esteem.
• I’ve conquered low self-esteem before with the help of my therapist, I can always go back for more therapy.

• Fear of not being perfect
• I’ll nitpick every word, sentence and paragraph and never get published.
• I’m bent to do the perfectionism, I just have to remind myself that no one is perfect. I just have to be good enough to be published.

• Fear of embarrassment
• I’ll look stupid and confirm that I’m not smart.
• Looking stupid is an emotion. It’s not real. Writing is not my full-time profession, so I don’t have to have a great book to survive. If it reaches just one person that enjoys it and maybe gets something out of it, then it is worth it.

Do this for each fear. Now look over your list. Is there any fear that is a deal breaker? Is there a fear that if the worst possible outcome occurred that you cannot get past it? My bet is there isn’t any, but in the slim chance there is, then writing a book may not be possible right now for you.

Lastly, and this is the important part, print out your fear list and post it near where you do your writing. Anytime you feel yourself faltering due to fear, go back and reread this list. I guarantee you will have at least one of these fears pop up while you are writing your book. Having the list nearby will help you dispel your fear and keep you on the right track.

In Part Four we’ll go over what type of book should you write. Also the burning question that we all ask; Pantser or Outliner?

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