5 Ways of Thinking that Keep Beginning Writers from Ever Starting

Photo by Calum MacAulay on Unsplash

Out of ideas? Read. Too many ideas it’s confusing you? Write.

Writing is too valuable for me not to do. And it’s not because I’ve got a message that everyone needs to hear. It’s because of how it helps me think better. More clearly.

So you should write. Everyone should. In public. I know…scary.

I dreaded writing in public. It’s the written form of public speaking (and we all know how much everyone dreads that).

Your words are an extension of your thoughts. You don’t want to write because others might judge you.

Your Spotify playlist is an extension of your thoughts. And you hesitate to play it in public because you want to avoid judgment.

In many ways, you must develop that “idgaf about what others think” attitude. That’s the only way to start. There is no other way.

Think about it this way: the ones who criticize you are not worth impressing anyways. Everyone else is too busy working on themselves to criticize you. Either way, you win.

The 5 Thoughts that Keep Aspiring Writers from Ever Starting.

1. “I’ve written this before… readers are gonna say I’ve got nothing new to write about.” No one cares. Write for yourself. Write to clear up your thoughts. I’ve written about the same subject many times. Each time, I come away feeling more clear about the subject.
2. Striving for perfection. As with everything else in life, perfection will always be the enemy of “good enough.” And good enough is all you need to beat out 90% of the herd.
3. “I’m not ready yet.” No one ever is. I may never be ready. But growing in public is beneficial in so many ways.
4. “I don’t have enough to write about… my life isn’t that fun.” No one’s life is as fun as they make it seem. It’s all an illusion. You’d be surprised just how much more relatable a “boring” life is.
5. “The writing scene is saturated… there’s bound to be someone else who’s written what I want to write about.” Your perspective will always be unique. If you’re honest with yourself. If you’re not honest, you’re bound to write something that you’ve read somewhere else.

Haters are always going to hate.

Whether you’re doing something to better yourself or not, they will criticize you.

May as well do something that makes you a better person.

Go write!