“I’m on such a writing roll, I’m terrified to stop.”
I hear this from clients all the time.
And so it goes. We’re scared when we are writing, and we’re scared when we’re not.
Four ways to deal with the fear of not writing:
- First of all, keep writing. When in creation mode, by all means stay in creation mode. This means even if you have a pile of revisions waiting for you, or research that still needs to be done, save it.
- Have some faith. Whatever got you to this point of massive output is not going to suddenly disappear. It’s true we all have times when we are more productive than others, but we have to trust that ideas will always come, and that words will flow again.
- What’s the worst that can happen? Chances are that day will come when words. just. get. stuck. One of my favorite quotes on writing comes from Henry Miller’s 11 Commandments of Writing: When you can’t create, you can work. Remember those revisions and that research you put off before? There’s always plenty of writing-related work to do when you’re not in the writing flow.
- Find the benefit. To help quiet the fear of not being able to write, remember that all creatives need time to refill the well. This is why it’s perfectly acceptable for ad agency creatives to go to the movies or a museum during the day. Refilling the well for you might mean conducting a workshop (to gather more stories), taking on a new type of client, attending a conference, or, my fave, heading off to Kripalu for the weekend.
How do you deal with the fear of not writing?