Conquering Your Biggest Fears as a Writer

Fear - one of the things that keeps us from fulfilling God’s call to write. This can take many forms, but over the years as I’ve helped people clarify their messages and encouraged them in their calling, I’ve found that these are some of the most common fears:

Fear of failure.

Fear of the perception of others.

Fear that their book won’t resonate with their audience.

Fear that the book isn’t good enough.
Or worse… that they aren’t good enough.

I’ve fallen into these traps at some point or another in my years of writing as well. These fears are common, but they don’t have to be normal. Here are some practical ways to combat these fears and step fully into your calling.

Failure. I don’t know anyone who enjoys failure. But our culture today has portrayed failure as a bad thing. Failure is a tool. It is a lesson that we can learn from, if we choose to look at it that way. We can choose to be stuck and discouraged, or we can analyze, strategize, and improve. Take the pressure off of the word (and yourself) and put your best out there. And if it doesn’t yield the results that you were hoping for, take some time to figure out why. Don’t let failure (or a perceived failure) derail you or keep you from starting at all.

The Perception of Others. At a very young age, my dad said this to my brother and me in the car on the way to soccer practice - “Perception is realer than reality.” As a kid, I interpreted that to mean that intent doesn’t matter, only the opinion of others matters. But reflecting on that phrase as an adult, it’s deeper than that. Everyone sees the world through their own lens, which combines the lessons they’ve learned with the experiences they’ve had. And whether or not they know your intentions, they will ultimately perceive a situation through their own lens of lessons and experience. While that felt defeating and performance-based as a child, I now find it freeing. People will see me however they want to, so ultimately the intent is what really matters because God is the one who knows the heart. God knows your call and you can trust that He sees your intent. He is in the heart-transformation business, so you don’t have to take on that responsibility. All you have to do is be obedient.

The Book Won’t Resonate. If you don’t know your audience, you won’t reach your audience. This is where the pre-writing that you learned in elementary school comes into play. Figure out who your target market is - their age, demographic, socio-economic status, likes, dislikes, family life, etc. Be specific here! I know you want to write something that will reach ALL people, but it simply isn’t possible. The more specific, the better because you will serve them best if you know them best. As you write, do it with that audience in mind and you won’t have to worry about it as much.

The Book Isn’t Good Enough. If we are honest, this is really about us as writers being good enough. Let me ask you a couple of questions: what is “good enough?” How is that measured? Who decides that? And why does it matter? I am a firm believer that whoever needs to read the words will be the people it will reach. Do we as Christian writers want to make money on all of our hard work? Yes. But is helping people our ultimate goal? Yes. God has given you the gift of the pen! Use it! He hasn’t gifted you in this way for you to waste it. And “good enough” isn’t in His vocabulary. “Obedient” is. Your book will be exactly what He wants it to be if you lean in and obey him. And you, believer, are good enough because of the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross for you. You don’t have to check things off of the proverbial list to be loved and accepted by Him, so take comfort in that!

I’ll leave you with this - “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18). Love is the remedy for fear. And God is perfect love. So let the Truth in His word encourage and challenge you, the sacrifice of His Son give you the grace you don’t deserve, and allow His Spirit the room to speak into your life. Let God’s love for you overshadow any fear that may creep in.