Overcoming Writing Insecurities

Publishing this blog was nerve-racking.  I have insecurities about sharing my writing since it’s such a personal thing to me.  I feel vulnerable and exposed but at the same time, it’s a good step for me to be able to share my work with my readers.  If I want to pursue writing in the way of a career, I need to be more confident and proud of my writing instead of hiding it and telling myself it’s not good enough.  I received a lot of positive feedback the whole day after making it live and sharing it on Instagram. Hearing that people enjoyed my posts and liked my writing leveled out my nerves and now I’m actually excited for my next post and those that follow.

Thank you readers for all your positive feedback.

There are a plethora of reasons as to why one may feel insecure or have anxieties about their writing.  It could be down to bad experiences with writing such as writing for overly critical readers or professors who are looking for a certain level of writing that you think you can’t achieve.  Personal writing can also raise anxiety levels since you’re allowing yourself to be vulnerable and open with your readers. Time limits and deadlines can also put you under a lot of stress as can writing about subjects you aren’t too familiar with.  Whatever the reason, there are ways to overcome writing anxiety.

First, you might want to identify what your writing strengths are.  Are you proficient at research based writing, or opinion articles.  Do you prefer to write with long complex sentences or are you short, concise, and to the point.  Are you good at reading and relaying information in a clear way that can appeal to your target audience.  Maybe you understand what interests people and how to write pieces that your readers can relate to. Hone in on what you’re good at and practice it.

The best piece of advice I’ve been given for writing is to keep writing and keep practicing in order to get into the habit and routine of writing.  Write as much as you can.

Another way to overcome that writing anxiety is to read other writers’ work.  Read a lot. Get to understand the writing styles of others so you can develop your own voice and style.  Experiment with this and see what works and what doesn’t work.

And finally, be open to all kinds of feedback, good or bad.  Sometimes constructive criticism can help you more than you might think.  It gives you space to reevaluate and go back to that experimentation with your writing.

I don’t mean to offer advice, I’m in no way qualified, but I thought I’d share some advice I have been given and learnt throughout my time writing.