The importance of individuality as an author is often sidelined by a host of challenges. But challenges aren’t always a bad thing.

In fact, I believe most of us enjoy a challenge every now and then, often entering into them intentionally. But if the outcome we desire doesn’t happen as quickly or exactly as we anticipate, then we tend to get frustrated and resort to our old way of doing things. Just consider all of the New Year’s resolutions made a few months ago; the majority of people have already abandoned them to return to their former habits.

We tend to be selective of our challenges, too. When we perceive the challenge to be out of our comfort zone or if we must do it alone, we tend to reject it outright, choosing instead to walk away from potential opportunities because of fear of the unknown and to avoid the risk of ridicule.

These fears extend to our writing. Often, it causes us to stifle our personalities and write in a more detached, formal manner. It also makes us selective in what we write about, selecting what we think our audience wants to read about, rather than what we feel compelled to write about.Read More