I completely understand your fear. I've recently become involved with the Fear of Writing Website and online writing course. You should check it out and consider taking the course.

http://fearofwriting.com/creative-writing-cours...

I completely understand your fear. I've recently become involved with the Fear of Writing Website and online writing course. You should check it out and consider taking the course.

http://fearofwriting.com/creative-writing-cours...

To this day, I still question whether I am a “natural” storyteller or not. My great grandmother was a writer, and both my Dad and aunt are gifted storytellers. I must have gotten some chunk of their storytelling skill.

That fear in regards to my writing comes from being too hard on myself. If I don't get something the first time around, I automatically think that the draft is garbage, I suck, don't have the knack, etc. Your article has given me some things to think about.

Many writers that I know (myself included) have to first get through a bunch of emotional issues that basically boil down to the question: “Do I deserve to be a writer?” I'm not sure why some (or many?) of us were born with this gene of self-doubt . . . do artists and musicians ask themselves these same kinds of questions on a regular basis?

After agonizing over that one for long enough, some of us actually make it through that phase (LOL) and commit to becoming a writer. “Becoming” being the operative word. Even after years of living my writing dreams whenever I can, I still feel I'm learning and teaching myself to become the writer I want to be.

It's a journey and we're never really “there.” I believe that might even explain why some writers are so darn prolific (we've all heard of those Amazons who churn out 80 or so books in their lifetime) . . . because they never really feel they are “there” yet.

And that's probably a good thing. Writing is about creating. If we ever stop to rest on our laurels for too long (or become stagnant out of feelings of failure) then we stop creating.

I'd rather be on a journey with no end in sight than lose my creative bone–even though that bone *does* cause me emotional rollercoaster rides on an ongoing basis!