You have no doubt heard of the legendary pen that "freely spells forth words" and "spills ink onto the page in paragraph form". It sits under the protective housing of a glass case, locked away in a bank-style vault, guarded by a gang of four burly thugs, and is hidden away in a nearly impregnable fortress.
Our hero, the would-be writer, stands outside those walls with his notepad in hand. He scratches his head and wonders how he will ever lay his hands on that legendary pen and accomplish his dream of becoming a writer. For after penetrating the fortress, he would need to find the vault, subdue the guards, use the pen, and then manage to make it through a series of snares and traps before he would be home free again. (He could only hope that his manuscript would survive all these perils intact!)
Looking upon this scene, perhaps it seems to you as though becoming a writer is an action-adventure challenge. Perhaps becoming a writer is a never-ending search for some mysterious writing pen or some inspirational muse. Perhaps you, our would-be writer hero, believe that there are too many intimidating factors that stand in the way for you to become a writer.
In all actuality, the story is not the "action-adventure" that it seems. Really, the story is a psychological thriller. Most of the barriers to becoming a writer do not exist, except within the mind of the hero. (For, a writer is simply someone who writes; someone who collects thoughts and puts them down in fixed form.) The mind conjures up so many objections that our hero will never even take the first steps toward becoming a writer. These mental illusions, driven by fear, stand between our hero and the goal of becoming a writer.
What is the Biggest Fear that a Would-Be Writer Must Overcome?
Perhaps all fears could be summed up in the fear of being rejected. The would-be writer's own insecurities keep him from taking the leap, from scaling the walls, defeating the thugs, opening the vault, using the pen, and making it out alive again. He is trapped on the outside of the fortress, kept captive by fears, such as:
* "What if people don't like what I have to say?"
* "What if my writing is not so spectacular as to capture the attention of the entire world?"
* "What if people simply do not care about my chosen topic?"
* "What if my information becomes outdated after I write it?"
* "What if people become angry because of something that I say?"
* "What if people read what I write and say nasty things about my work?"
Overcoming the Fear of Rejection in Order to Actually Start Writing
The key to becoming a writer is to simply start writing. If a writer stares at a blank page, stuck on his fear over how he will ever write anything that will impress others, he is only likely to continue staring at a blank page.
My advice is to (momentarily) take a step back from the project. Change the facts. Forget that there even is any audience; there is only you, the writer. For the rough draft, there is only one reader that matters - you. Step back and say: "This rough draft is only for me. I write it for no one else. Right now, I am the only audience that matters. And all that matters to this audience - to this reader - is that there are words written on a page. I, reader number one, will be satisfied with seeing a page that is simply filled with words."
If you are still stuck, then I would advise you to take an additional step back and remove yourself completely from the situation. Erase your name from the top of the page. Pretend as though your name is not at all going to be associated with whatever it is that you are writing. Pretend that you are Andy (or Annie) Anonymous. This work is not being created for the praise and glory of you. Write as though you will receive absolutely no credit for this work - for better or for worse. Sit down and get your rough draft going! You may be a horrible speller with poor grammar, with ideas that don't make sense, with characters that are static and flat, with a plot that goes nowhere; none of these things matter for your rough draft. All that matters in becoming a writer is that you start writing, even if this means grabbing words and throwing them Jackson Pollock-style onto a page. Your goal is to give yourself something that you can later re-work, refine, and remodel as the writing process continues.
Getting started is one of the biggest challenges that a writer faces. Getting over the fear of what others will think about what I have to say, and the possibility of rejection, is one of the biggest intimidating factors at work against a would-be writer. It is his own ego that gets in the way of our hero and keeps him from grabbing the pen and becoming a writer. By changing the facts, by removing the audience - and even by removing himself from the situation, these fears can be overcome, and the process can begin. Starting work on his rough draft, our hero scales the wall, navigates the fortress, passes the thugs, and makes it back out the door - a writer.