Writer’s Worry and How to Beat It

You’ve written something, you’ve put it out into the world, you’ve hit refresh, you’ve waited for that first read, then you begin to worry over the words. And then you begin to wonder how you could have improved the piece you just finished, just put into the world. You fight the urge to edit it then and there, but even once you push yourself away, it stays with you.

Could I have said it better?

Could I have said it differently?

Shit, did I just embarrass myself?

What was I thinking?

In a matter of heartbeats you go from hoping a thousand people find what you’ve written and loved it to hoping no one saw that God-awful thing!

You rush back to your desk, just a quick edit. Just a few things. Nothing too serious. Except three hours later you’re still worrying over it and maybe even pulled it from your blog entirely. You promise yourself you can make it better. That you’re going to make it better. You just need more time with it. It just needs more time.

They always need more time. Want to know a secret? Writing is never done, but it does reach a place where it’s good enough to stand on its on. Keep reading and let’s explore this topic further.

Ease up, trust yourself

Look, real talk, writing ain’t easy. The writing life? Nope, not easy either. And as a fellow perfectionist, I get the worry. I do.

But here’s the thing, if you’ve given yourself time to grow as a writer, invested the hours, the effort, the practice and the outright faith in all this, you have to trust yourself and what you’ve written.

What this means in practice is simply this: Stop worrying over what you’ve just written. Put it out there, leave it, move on.

Still worried?

Counter writer’s worry with writer’s facts.

Have you invested enough time learning the art and craft of writing? How many books, articles, essays and the like have you read on the subject? How many videos? How many podcasts?

I bet it’s a lot, isn’t it?

How many hours have you dedicated to writing so far? How many have you actually plugged in? How many words do you think you’ve written in your life?

I bet it’s a lot, huh?

Here’s what I’m saying, if you know in your heart of hearts that you’ve practiced, pushed, grown, and yes, failed miserably more than a few times before, then this isn’t your first rodeo.

Trust yourself. Trust your growth. Trust what you’ve learned.

The best way to stop worrying

There’s one solid way to get ahead of the worry that somehow, your work isn’t good enough. You ready for it? It’s pretty straightforward but damned if it isn’t a challenge. You beat back your writer’s worries with more writing.

Read that again.

You beat worry by writing more. By putting more out there. By pushing yourself for more.

It’s called growth, and growth never comes without pain. Embrace it, push forward, challenge yourself to grow even more, fail forward, and if there is truly a problem with what you’ve written, trust yourself to be able to fix it.

Whatever you’ve written, trust yourself, trust your growth, trust your capabilities, and trust your investment in the process. Trust what you’ve written.

Let it live. Once it’s out there, don’t hover over it. Let it breathe. Let it walk. Let it be. Write the next thing. Then after a few things, if there’s something you can’t quite let go of... Come back to it. But not until that point.

Writing isn’t easy, but it’s worth it. Trusting yourself as a writer isn’t easy either, but guess what, it’s worth it too. You’ve got this!