My inspiration post yesterday brought up the idea of the fear of sharing our works with others because it is such a piece of us. That got me to thinking of some of the other fears of publishing or sharing our writing. Some people are afraid of what others may think, but me… I am afraid of someone actually liking what I create!
Some may find that strange, I mean, who is afraid of success. But to me that comes with its own whole ball of wax. You know, things like expectations… Writing is a joy to me, something I do because I love it. The idea of someone liking what I write could take some of that fun away. People might expect more, or what if another isn’t as good!
Fear can really be a detrimental thing no matter what you are doing in life! But I agree that courage is doing in spite of that fear! I wont let my fear stop me.
What about you? What in the writing process do you fear? Why are you afraid? What stops you from writing or sharing your work?
Random Acts of Writing 
I understand! Personally, I fear sharing my work because I worry no one would care. I wanted to participate in a short story contest last month but the winners were determined by Facebook votes. I didn’t expect anyone to vote and thought I’d be belittled for even trying.
Thus, I missed an opportunity. It’s like I’ll need success from the start in order to keep publishing. I might not obtain that so I have no choice but to ignore this fear. 🙂
I have taken that fear out of mine as I don’t really write for anyone but myself. I write because it is my passion. That said I would be afraid of putting into something that is judged by facebook likes, mostly because to me that is not a fair judgement. That is just a popularity contest of how many facebook friends you have… at least that is my opinion…
Sometimes putting things out there is the scariest thing we can do, but… when you look at why you write, the real reasons, it makes it a little bit easier to put it out there.
I usually think my primary reason for writing is because it’s my passion. As far as I know, this is the main reason. But sometimes I can’t help but think how nice it would be if I could impress others with my work. I’m curious if this says something bad about me as a writer.
The popularity issue was another reason I withdrew from the contest. How would one know people aren’t simply voting because they know the author, not because they valued the author’s work? From that perspective, my fears were irrational. I had nothing to fear, only to gain from sharing my work.
Thanks so much for the insight. Perhaps I need to do some deeper reflection.
I don’t think that says anything bad about you as a writer. I think we all seek to have others approve of what we do. Especially to share in the things that are most important to us, we want that to be important to others.
Sharing our writing is scary business, but in the end I think the results are worth it and what do we really have to lose?
No troubles, really sharing is the only way we can grow. Looking at something from a different perspective is one of my favorite things to do. Challenging myself all the time to grow and change is something I try to do every day! Without the insight of others it is challenging to do that.
Well said, and I share your fear of people liking my work. I, too, worry if subsequent writings will be compared to previous works. Honestly, I think it’s a fear the majority of writers share, whether they admit it or not. And I believe it’s shared by so many others, outside of writing as well. Just about anyone lacking a superiority complex will always doubt the quality of their work and constantly question if they could have done more, could have made it better in some way. Such is life. Perfection does not exist. Personally, I view that as a good thing. It’s what drives us daily to perform at our best and drives us to seek new ways of improvement. If perfection were attainable, and we all obtained it, what would be left to strive for? High five to you for not letting your fears stop you. I used to let mine stop me, but luckily, I found my courage and outgrew my fears!
I don’t want perfection… something I learned a long time ago helped me with that. There is a Native American belief that perfect is bad and they would purposely “add in” an imperfection. It was considered bad luck for something to be “perfect”.
Of course I also believe that we are our own worst critics, and no matter what others say about “liking” what I have done, ect, that is something that can be hard to let go. Of course I don’t let that stop me, buut it can sure be nerve wracking!
Courage is not the absense of fear, it is pushing through in spite of it! ~ I truly believe that!
Yes, indeed we are our own worst critics! And I also believe that courage is not the absence of fear, it is pushing through in spite of it! That is a wonderful quote! ❤
While I haven’t gotten to the point of fear of success and setting expectations with my writing yet, I have had it in other areas of my life and I understand. I can only imagine how frustrating it must be for writers who have awesome debut novels only to get ripped apart by critics on the sequel or an entirely different book.
yeah that idea would just be terrifying in and of itself. Not to mention not only the idea of expectations… for following books, but expectations in more, ect of actually then “having” to write. which is all just a crazy thing to worry/fear, but I like to look and know these things to be able to work against them!
I’m terrified of sharing my work, mostly because I’m afraid someone’s going to pick it apart. A silly fear because it will have to get picked apart during editing/critiquing, but… something I need to get over!
the fear of how someone would pick it apart is very valid!!! I strangely have never worried about that… And, I don’t think it is silly because critiquing/editing is rather different than what readers do, at least… when I “critique” something that is different then when I read… even if reading for a review.
Hello! I nominated you for the Super Sweet Blog Award here: http://spilledxink.wordpress.com/2013/05/07/super-sweet-blog-award/ 🙂
Thank you so much!
Have fun with it! 🙂
I’m terrified of sounding like an idiot when readers ask me about my work. I love creating worlds in my stories, but I have a terrible memory. My first novel, Imminent Danger, went through so many rounds of revision that I have trouble remembering what actually made the final cut. So now I’ve started running into people who know more about my book than I do. Luckily they’re all close friends, so they know about my awful memory, but if that ever happens with a non-friend fan, I don’t even know what I’d do. Ack! Time to re-read my own book, lol.
Yeah, I have trouble from version to version, buuut my work I tend to know inside and out. Mostly because it stays in my head so very long before being finished.
Rereading it… as though someone else wrote it can be a TON of fun and kinda eye opening!
I am terrified of running out of ideas. There’s nothing I hate more than having an exciting idea go flat in the middle of writing, or especially towards the end. I’m scared of losing momentum and looking back at my writing as a waste of time. Drives me crazy!
no writing is ever a waste of time! We learn and grow from each little bit we write… even if it goes nowhere!
Ideas are endless… **smiles** I could no sooner run out of ideas than all the stars could fall out of the sky… I often worry that I have “too many”
Losing momentum however… that one is very tricky. NaNoWriMo has helped me with that. Along with learning more and more of my writing style, and what helps and what doesn’t. Of course, that has come with the price of different writing that thus far has lost momentum, or gone nowhere **grins**
Okay. This is a sign that I need to query that agent. I put it off, because I was afraid that I was inadequate. But “powerful beyond measure”? Woo. I’d love to believe that. The fear of rejection overhangs the day. But I need to get past that.
Never put things off because you think you are not good enough… we never think we are good enough.
It takes many times of rejection to be successful… the road to success is paved with failures… blah blah blah *grins*
I’m still afraid of what my friends will think. If they care.
More often than not I think a lot of people find that to be one of their biggest fears. What those we care about think of what we do, can be debilitating even…