3 Ways to Fix Your Writing Anxiety

Note: this post, 3 Ways to Fix Your Writing Anxiety, first appeared on MetaStellar’s Writing Advice of the Week column.

No matter what type of writer you are, it’s easy to feel anxiety while writing. It might be because you want your work to be perfect, you’re worried that no one will like it, or you believe that it’s not good enough. These negative, anxious thoughts keep you from moving forward with your work. To escape these thoughts, you need to replace them with positive ones. Here are three things to remember to help you with your writing anxiety.

Know You Have Time

Writers often experience time anxiety. This is anxiety that arises when you feel that you are running out of time. Often, we believe we should hit certain writing milestones at certain points in our lives, and if we haven’t, then we must be doing something wrong or we’re not good enough to keep going.

The truth is that many writers have started late. Others received plenty of rejections along the way, so their work appeared to the world much later than when they started. But writing isn’t something you’re only allowed to pursue for a set number of years.

One key aspect of this is that you never know what the writing journey another person has taken truly is. On the surface, it might seem like someone’s dreams just automatically came true, or they were instantly skilled and accomplished in their goals. The truth is that these people have worked for a long time, and they made it through a lot of hardship before reaching their goal. In a sense, they’re doing the same thing you’re doing, and they’re experiencing the same things you’re currently going through.

Comparing yourself to others only wastes your time. Remember that you have your whole life to write and get better at writing. Eventually, you’ll see some progress, and you’ll recognize the specific path that no other writer is on but you.

Know It Doesn’t Need to Be Perfect

Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in the details. Writers want their work to be perfect, and they get discouraged when it’s not. They slip into the anxious feeling that they’re not good enough. However, your draft doesn’t need to be perfect from the beginning.

I wrote another Writing Advice article that talks about why rough drafts shouldn’t be perfect. In that article, I talk about how you need to get out of the negative mindset that your work must be the best it’s ever been in order to be shown to people. In reality, that only leads to more anxiety because you’re putting so much pressure on yourself. While you can always improve on your drafts, getting rid of the pressure that you placed on yourself is key.

Here are a few ways to lower your anxiety regarding your drafts:

1. Examine your writing process. What if the mountain of tasks you want to do stems from your writing process and how you go about accomplishing your goals? Examine each step of your process and see if you need to break down your goals into smaller pieces. Or determine if you’re putting too much pressure on yourself to meet deadlines.
2. Stop editing inside a vicious cycle. If you find yourself going back into a page or chapter you just wrote and are editing it over and over again, then that ultimately contributes to your anxiety. Since you want to finish your draft, break out of the cycle of editing by making the draft exist first. Remember to plan, write, rewrite, and then edit. Sticking to this process saves you a lot of headaches in the long run.

Remember, the edits will come later. Right now, just focus on your draft and get it down on paper. You have plenty of time to work out the details when you edit. That’s why you need to trust the writing process. Anxiety about being perfect only gets in the way.

Know You Can Make Mistakes

This goes along with being a perfectionist, but it also applies to being a writer in general. Sometimes writers believe that everything will fall apart if they make mistakes in their writing. They start questioning their abilities when they write. They ask, “Did I do this right? Is that how you write this?” I’m definitely one of them!

But making mistakes is part of growing as a writer. One misstep doesn’t mean that you’re now disqualified from reaching your writing goals. It’s also not a reflection of you as a person.

Remember the following when being a perfectionist starts to get in the way:

1. This is what editing (and editors) are for. You’re not going to write a perfect or even good manuscript in one fell swoop. You can, however, work to make it the best it can be over time. Additionally, ask for help from people who know the field and know how to spot a mistake no matter how minor (like me!)
2. Every writer makes mistakes. Even the most seasoned professionals are out there making terrible drafts just to get things down on paper. They aren’t going to worry about making things perfect because they know they can make mistakes. So take a page out of their book and see what they have to offer.

You’re learning a craft, and you’re bound to make mistakes along the way. If you think about it, all writers, even the best ones, started out as writers who had no idea what they were doing.

So if you feel anxious when writing, stop and take a step back. Ask yourself why you might feel this way. Then remind yourself that you’ll reach your goal in time, and you’ll get better along the way.

Happy writing!

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