While attending a cookout a few weekends ago, a friend introduced me to one of her acquaintances. When this woman found out I was a writer, her eyes opened wide.
“I would love to do that!” she said. “I have so many ideas . . .”
We chatted for a few more minutes about what types of writing I do. She mentioned trying to join a local writing group she found years ago online. But when she got to the restaurant where they were all meeting, she said all the women there worked in the industry, either in a freelance capacity or working on staff at local news outlets. She said she felt intimidated because she hadn’t published anything and slunk away that evening, vowing never to return. She mentioned all the Post-It notes she has scattered around her house, thoughts that tumble out of her head and onto the tiny pieces of paper.
But from what I gathered, this woman (who is several years older than me) hasn’t completed anything. She didn’t mention any essays, poems, or short stories. Just her ideas.
We exchanged phone numbers so we could talk more about writing. But as I walked away, I thought to myself, “She has writing paralysis.” It made me sad, because I’ve seen it before. My own daughter has it. She loves writing for fun and journaling but when it comes time to produce and submit something creative, she hedges. As she describes it, “I get too much in my head about things.”
I could tell from speaking to this woman at the barbeque she likely has the same thing. She has romanticized the idea of being a writer so much that she has talked herself out of doing the writing. I’ve been thinking about what advice I could give her.
Take a writing workshop or online class. There are so many affordable options out there, including the ones here at WOW! While the idea of sharing our work can be intimidating, at the very least, it will require you to put pen to paper or fingers to the keyboard and complete an assignment. You’ll probably have to submit it to the instructor or others in your class. You will get to read examples of other people’s work and see what topics bode well in essay or short story format. When I helped WOW! instructor Ashley Harris out with a poetry webinar earlier this summer, I was so inspired I came away with five new poem drafts. I haven’t written poetry in years, and I’ve never published any, but seeing her presentation, which included submission markets, lit a fire underneath me.
Enter a contest. Again, these have tangible deadlines that force you to write. The WOW! quarterly flash fiction contest only requires 750 words. Yes, it’s difficult to produce a compelling short story in so few words, but it’s also very achievable. If you purchase a critique to go along with your entry, you’ll get ideas on what worked and didn’t work in the story and receive encouragement to keep going along the way. Our monthly markets newsletter is also chock full of places to submit, complete with deadlines. I’m listening to an audiobook right now called The Book Club for Troublesome Women by Marie Bostwick. It takes place in the late 1960s, and one character, Margaret, decides she wants to enter an essay contest a national magazine is sponsoring. She has to go out and rent a typewriter just to achieve this goal—talk about a physical barrier to entering a contest! Thankfully, things are much easier on writers these days. The only barrier we have is ourselves.
Participate in a writing or journaling challenge. Years ago, I read Julia Cameron’s book The Artist’s Way and got so much out of her daily morning pages exercises. If you’re struggling with what to write, begin a short journaling practice with your morning tea or coffee. Subscribe to a few Substack accounts like this one and read other people’s work for inspiration. Jodi Webb wrote a great post with 15 writing challenges for writers of all types. You’ll be inspired in no time!
I promise that if you’re suffering from the dreaded “writer’s paralysis,” you won’t be for long once you begin putting the words on the page.
Renee Roberson is an award-winning writer and host and creator of the true crime podcast, Missing in the Carolinas.
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