Yes, I really did. I just sent a message to my email list containing a video I made about my new service and I posted the same video on Twitter.

Now I’m cringing, realizing that my video is cheesy. That I stumbled over my words. That it’s obviously recorded by an amateur. And while I’m very nervous of what comments may be made (“Wow – she has a huge forehead”) and how I’ll be perceived (“She had the gall to make a sales offer!”), I’m also excited to have pushed past my fears and complete something new and challenging. And even more than that, share it with others. 

The Inner Conflict

I think that relates to writing in general. As writers, we know the story we want to tell. But too often we allow our perceived lack of skill or knowledge to prevent us from writing. Or we want the story to be perfect so we conduct extensive research and continuously rewrite passages, leaving the story languishing unfinished for months or years. Sometimes we worry what others will think of our style or content and therefore keep our work imprisoned and unpublished in our Dropbox files.

But at the same time, if you’re like me, you also have the inner desire to be a recognized writer. You read others’ work and you know without a shadow of a doubt that you can write just as well. You know you have quality content and services to offer and you’re frustrated that you aren’t gaining the traction you need to reach more people.

Will You Settle?

It all comes down to if you’re willing to settle with where you’re at. For me, I’ve reached a point that I desire to grow my legacy business more than I fear what others think of me. I recognize that I need to do things differently if I want to see change. So to develop and advertise my new service, I had to overcome my self-imposed excuses, one at a time. Believe me, I didn’t create the service package, film the video and click submit all in one day. Sure, some people could do all of that in less than an hour. But for me – a virtual unknown in the world and an introvert to boot – I had to overcome mental barriers to complete each area.

Will it be worth the effort? I think so. Even though there’s a chance that absolutely no one will open the email or click the link on Twitter, I nevertheless gained confidence and I know how I can improve next time. And that, my friends, is worth it to me.

What about you? What are some of your writing fears? How have you overcome them? Share them in the comments!

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