It’s his secret.
Jimmy gets up every morning an hour earlier than the rest of his family and then starts working on his mystery novel. Before his siblings and parents even open their eyes, he’s written a several hundred words, and he’s really proud of his progress.
He then gets ready for the day and goes to school where he chats with his friends about typical teenager stuff like video games, movies, and stupid biology exams, but his mind’s still on his writing. He really wants to tell his friends about it, but he’s not sure what they would say. Perhaps he’s also afraid that maybe his novel isn’t good enough, and his friends wouldn’t even want to read it.
Now Julie, a forty-three-year-old woman, has been writing for several years now and yet she’s still in the same situation that Jimmy is. She’s nervous about letting others, even her own family, read her completed romance novel, because she’s not sure what they’ll say. Will they like it? Will they think it’s weird or even just a waste of time?
These thoughts are quite common among writers.
Even authors who’ve spent years writing and even published a book or two get nervous sharing their books with others. But think about both Johnny and Julie. What do they both have in common? Well, both of them are letting their fear of what others may think get in the way of progressing in their writing journey.
Do you relate to either of them?
Nervousness is normal, whenever you’re sharing anything, you created. We like to have people compliment us and enjoy our work, but beyond that, we’re scared of them hating it or telling us it was a waste of our time.
And this fear is extremely harmful to any new writer’s future in writing.
Why?
Well, think about it.
What would be the point of writing if nobody besides you were going to read it? At first, maybe you start writing, just because it’s fun and it’s something you enjoy. But over time as the hours start adding up and soon, you’ll be wondering why you spent your time typing away on your computer when you could’ve been studying or even some other hobby.
And then, the next thing you know, you’ve stopped writing because you’ve determined it’s pointless.
Picture Johnny again. Let’s say he keeps writing for five months, but he never gets the courage to share his work with his friends. In fact, he convinces himself that his writings not good enough to be read by anyone, so he deletes the document and never works on it again.
There went his passion.
And possibly an amazing book that hundreds or thousands of people could’ve enjoyed.
Johnny didn’t know that his book was bad, but he ASSUMED it was because he wasn’t getting any feedback. “But Danielle,” you say. “Not every book a person writes is a bestseller. Perhaps Johnny’s book was awful, and nobody would’ve read it, let alone bought it!”
And to that I say, “Are your friends real?” Because, if they are, then no real friend is going to tell you, “Your book’s trash. Write something better.” No, they’ll read your book and tell you, “I liked this and this and this, BUT I thought you could change this or maybe write this a better way.” Your family should be the same way.
Johnny’s writing won’t be perfect. Neither will yours or mine, but without feedback, they’ll never get better. And perhaps Johnny or you have the talent for writing. You’ll never know unless someone is there to tell you that.
Now, what if the response you get towards your book is negative? (This is one of the other problems I’ll cover in this series.) Maybe you let your uncle read your book, and he just hands you back a manuscript with thousands of critiques and scribbles on it. What should your response be?
Maybe you think in this scenario you would have an excuse to quit.
Nope.
There is NEVER an excuse to quit. (Unless you literally, psychically, or mentally can’t keep writing…and I mean like you’re about to die, and you can’t type or hold a pen in your shaking hand.) There will always be some people who talk down about your work…but maybe they’re wrong. Maybe what you wrote just isn’t their kind of story. (Again, I’ll cover more about this in a later post.)
The point is people and readers are important motivation for writers. And if you don’t have readers or plan to let anyone read your work, then you can improve your writing a bit through reading ‘How to Write’ books or paying better attention in English class, but ultimately, don’t expect your work to improve significantly.
And if you just write as a hobby, that’s perfectly fine! Do what you do because you love it and it’s fun! If you want to pursue a career in writing or even just take the next step, you’re going to have to conquer your fear of sharing your work with others and just give it a shot!
Who knows…you might be the next bestselling author? You just don’t know it yet!
-D.P.
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