I mentioned in the Introduction chapter that I see a lot of writers second-guessing themselves. I think this is normal for creatives, because when we write or draw or make music we're putting our hearts out there into our work, and that is terrifying.

It's normal to be nervous, but when that fear chokes you into inactivity, then that's when shit's just excessive. I pride myself on being the kind of person that has an answer to everything—annoyingly so! Hence, the questions below and my answers to them. Lather yourself up with my inspiration.

What if my writing sucks?

Who cares? First drafts always suck. Even Stephen King pantses his first drafts and then shreds them to shit two months later. There is no writer out there that creates gold in a first draft. Maybe not even the second. Maybe not even the next book! But the key to being a writer is to, you know, write.

Your first drafts are for YOU. Nobody else needs to see them if you don't want them to. So nobody can tell you that your writing sucks except yourself.

And you know what? Shut the fuck up. Everyone is their own worst critic.

The best way to avoid this kind of self-loathing is to write without looking back. Just bang out that first draft without rereading a single sentence you wrote. It won't give you any time to look back and second-guess yourself. Once you're done and you're ready for editing or a new draft or a new project or whatever, you'll be high off of finishing it and ready to transform it from a hairy caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly.

What if I [insert excuse here] and I can't finish?

You'll never have a draft that you can't finish if you don't ever start the draft. Just write! I have little bitties of stories kicking around that were just to flex my writing muscles that may or may not ever become anything. But it's important to work those muscles. Getting into a writing routine will make it easier and easier every day to overcome that fear.

And if you don't finish something, whatever! Nobody is holding a gun to your head and saying you need to complete a full manuscript. If something happens, like writer's block, or you get a different idea, or you just lose steam, work on something else! It's your life, your creative process. That's the beauty of the writer's journey, you get to decide exactly how it goes.

What if I am happy with my finished book but nobody wants to read it?

Get better at marketing.

This might be some tough love right here, but being a writer these days, even when going the traditional publishing/agent way, means marketing. For most of us that's a scary and terrible thing because we want to just sit in our houses and write stories all day, not try to sell people the thing that took us so long to work up the balls to finish.

But that's the reality. Finishing the book is the easy part. If you want to write for a living, you've got to make money off of those words, which is a whole other level of scary. I get it. I used to be there. Ghostwriting really helped me come out of that fear, because it cemented the confidence in me that people would actually pay for my words.

But had I had someone from the beginning of my writer's journey (even as far back as being a teenager) teaching me how to network, use social media, and make connections, I would have had more confidence so much earlier.

Whether self-pubbing or querying publishers/agents, marketing is going to be a huge part of your life. If you don't really care about making money at it, then power to you, don't worry about marketing and just write your stories! But learning how to interact with people is a must, which leads me to the next question...

How do I get people to buy my book? I hate sales!

First off, you need to stop thinking about the book. You're not selling a book. You're selling yourself. You've probably heard the term Author Brand used before, and it's the platform for which your books will stand upon. For people to find your book, they need to be able to find you, and to be able to find you, you need to be accessible.

The best way to do this, especially when fear is clawing at the back of your eyeballs, is organically. This is why I love Wattpad, or the Writer Communities on Instagram and Twitter. We're all readers too! So connecting with each other is a symbiotic relationship. We read each other's stories, and everybody is both providing a service and being provided a service. And at the same time, building relationships that are integral to the writer's life.

Think about it. As a full-time writer, for sure most of that will be spent alone. It's not like we go to a building every day and work alongside a bunch of coworkers or answer to anyone. This is awesome, but it's lonely, and we're responsible for all of our own stuff. We need marketing, editing, covers, web sites, all of that stuff, and even if you're able to do all of that yourself, it's still nice to be able to share it with people.

So building relationships with your peers through whatever social media you use to connect with writers is so important to both your Author Brand and overcoming your fear. When I'm feeling nervous about a story or doing something, I talk to my writer peeps about it, and they help me through! Or anytime somebody comes to me for advice or with a question, it gives me a boost of confidence that my knowledge can help somebody. It's an amazing feeling, and helps overcome that fear that I'm not good enough.

What if somebody criticizes my work?

Again with the tough love here... you've gotta just deal. Honestly, people are going to criticize you. Even if a thousand people love your book, somebody out there is going to hate it. You're not going to get acceptance letters from everyone that you query and you can't please everyone on the planet. So you're going to come across criticism.

And you need to just deal with it. And really, take a step back. If you saw this on somebody else's work, would you see it as constructive? Do they make points that make you think about your story in a different way? Are their points helpful when you look past the negativity on the surface? Honestly, nine times out of ten, people aren't doing it to be nasty, they legitimately want to help you. They've seen something in your story that they think is worth pointing out because they want you to succeed.

Now, the line here is if they're being rude, then that's most definitely not okay. If that's the case, they're being mean or cruel or harassing you, then by all means mute and report them. Try not to feed the trolls, because that just makes them hungrier, but definitely remove nasty people from your writing process. You don't need that kind of negativity cluttering up your life.

A really awesome resource for dealing with criticism (and giving it in a constructive way) is Rebel_Town's Super Important, Not to be Ignored, Life or Death type of Notice! You can find it in the Rebel Elite Book Club, and it talks about how to give and receive criticism with grace and not just buckle under people not seeing eye to eye with your vision.

A more extremist view is ProjectReadersReact, which is a movement that promotes people allowing all kinds of opinions on their books and not arguing with their readers. The base mission there is to build a community of writers that are okay with all kinds of comments and feedback, and don't try to change their readers views on what they've read. I personally like to have conversations with my readers about how they view things, but I don't try to change their minds. How they take things in an initial read-through is invaluable to me, because it shows me how people are going to react to my work from the get go.

What if I fail at being a writer?

Who is measuring whether you fail or succeed? I feel like that's all on you, babe. Honestly, to me, failing at being a writer would be not trying to do it at all. Never writing words because I'm too scared to, that's failing at being a writer.

Writing words and then not selling them? All that means is that I need to hone my craft, learn more about the business, or try a different genre. If success as a writer means making money, then you might have a long way to go, but you won't get there by not doing it.

For me, success as a writer is being able to do it at all. Overcoming the fear of rejection and failure and just getting those words out, even these words right now is success to me. Having people to talk to about the craft, brainstorm, collaborate with. Bringing people together over genres they love, or introducing someone to a beta or critique partner. Reviewing work that I love, and making someone feel good about their work. Writing words, and having a reader (even just ONE) squee over them. All of that is success to me.

Although I do have a giggle when I write the word cock and make a few cents. That's awesome too.

The bottom line is, you can't just not do something because you're afraid that you won't be able to do it. Then you're not doing it, which means that you failed at it because you never started, got it?

What if... what if... I'm just afraid!

Come on, it's not like you banging out a sentence or two is going to cause the Earth to explode. Just write some fucking words. 

You can do this. I believe in you. <3

Inspiration by thatonegirlfromoz

Got any questions that I will totally have the answer for? Need me to blow some sunshine up your ass? Ask them here!

Activity

Today's activity is to write some fucking words! We'll go a little higher than a six word story today. 

I want a dribble! A dribble is tiny tiny fiction, of 50 words. Exactly 50 words. Sometimes it's called a half-drabble, but whatever it's called, I want to see it!

Post it in the comments below, tweet it to me, instagram it, whatever you gotta do, but write 50 words today. You got this.

If you want to learn more about half-drabbles, Rasha007 wrote an article on them over at MicroBytes Magic! If you're going to procrastinate, at least do it in an educational way!