Growing as a Writer: How to do What Scares You and Learn From it

Growth is scary.

Not because we don’t want it, but because it involves change. And change is scary. Why can’t we stay exactly where we are, right?

Well, if you ever want to reach your dreams, then you will have to experience changes. You will have to be uncomfortable. But, in the end, it results in growth. So how can we not want that?

Because it scares us.

That’s the simple truth.

I won’t lie, the thought of publishing terrifies me. But, at the same time, I know it’s what I want and I will stop at nothing until I reach it. But there will be a lot of steps along the way that will be scary. For me and for you. That’s why I’m writing this post to help us both through those times and feel a little less daunted by our fears. So let’s get started.

#1: Do it Anyways

As we’ve already established, things in life can be scary. Growth is scary. But what are you going to do about it? Go through life avoiding your fears and anything relatively scary? Some people do exactly that. But is that what you want?

Being uncomfortable can be helpful in our growth. It makes us step outside our comfort zones and find new things out about ourselves as well as help us later on when we have to do scary things. Such as publishing a book. Stepping outside of our comfort zones is the first step in growth.

Take baby steps. Don’t leap all at once into what scares you. Take it one small step at a time, one small thing at a time, and eventually you’ll look back and see the great length you’ve made. But it all starts with one small step.

For me, those steps recently have involved going to my first writing conference and meeting authors and agents. I had a one-on-one appointment with best-selling author, Denise Hunter, as well as a cozy mystery author, Rachael O. Phillips. I met an agent and had her critique my pitch. I learned an overwhelming wealth of knowledge from all the sessions and people.

It was an amazing experience. But was I scared? You better believe I was! Every day was nerve wracking for me and I wouldn’t have gotten through it without the help from my friends.

I was scared. But I did it anyway. That’s the only way you can achieve anything. Doing it anyways.

#2: Do Not Fear

The Bible says 365 times “do not fear”. You’d think the message should have gotten across to us, but yet we still fear. Because we are human. But it’s when your fear has reached an unhealthy level that you should reevaluate yourself and your life. Because, when your fear is stopping you from growing, from learning, it becomes a problem.

Everyone has fear. Yes, even authors.

If you look at published, even best-selling authors, you’ll see that they are still learning as they go and experiencing new things. Scary things. Sara Ella has now published five books and she’s admitted that it never gets any easier to release a book into the world. Everyone has fears. Don’t feel like an anomaly.

But you can’t let them control you.

Consider spending time with God and asking Him to take away this fear within you if you feel it’s overwhelming and overpowering.

#3: Never Stop Learning

There’s always something to be learned. If you ever feel like you’ve “reached it” then think again. You will never stop learning no matter how long you live, and you will never know everything there is to writing.

For example, this past week I went to my first writing conference. I know I still have a lot to learn, but this conference made me realize just how much. Let’s just say I have plenty of notes to go through and study.

There’s nothing in life that you can’t learn better. There’s no point you can reach and suddenly be at this magical spot. No. We are all constantly learning, constantly growing, and constantly doing things that scare us. But we do it all because of how much we love writing.

Because of how much we want to reach our end goal.

We want to be published.

But the thought scares us. Dear writer, don’t become paralyzed by the fear. Don’t let it stop you from learning and growing. Feel the fear and do it anyways.

So tell me, how are you growing right now?

Your turn!

What have you been learning lately? What is something that scares you? How do you plan on moving past your fear to do it anyways?

Blessings, Allyson