Hello, readers and writers!

This week I’m covering the insecurities we all feel while pursuing a career in writing. Our craft isn’t a simple road to go down, and it’s one that’s often challenged by many outside forces. We may have limited support from friends and family while also battling the realism of life.

Real problems that get in the way of writing.

Finances

Worrying about finances makes sense when considering a career in writing. There are many authors out there who don’t depend on their writing for income, and they feel satisfied in their day-to-day work, but not everyone is as lucky.

Many writers are trying to find time between working a job they don’t necessarily love and dealing with other daily issues. The idea of becoming a full-time writer seems like a fantasy world in their minds, and wondering if they’ll ever make enough money to support themselves is a common and realistic insecurity.

Family

Whether a writer is dealing with parents, spouses, or children, there are many obstacles in their personal lives that keep them from writing. Acceptance from our families is one of the most worrisome things to achieve, especially when we first decide to become writers.

Not everyone will understand it, and sometimes the closest people to us will belittle it, but making sure those comments don’t stop us from pursuing our dreams is incredibly important. There’s no need to neglect your family, but they also don’t need 100% of your time or attention either. Creating and maintaining those boundaries as well as standing up for yourself is incredibly important.

Lack of knowledge

Writing about something we’ve never experienced for ourselves and don’t know much about can be frightening. I know many times I’ve felt I couldn’t write about something because I don’t know anything about it. Which, in a way, can be true as I shouldn’t be ignorant in my writing, but that also doesn’t mean I can’t make a plan to research and learn more before dedicating to a project.

No workspace

Working from our bedrooms or living rooms doesn’t seem ideal when writing. There are distractions everywhere, considering the space isn’t strictly for working. Attempting to nest yourself in an area can make all the difference when battling with the issue of whether having an official workplace makes you professional or not. You can make your writing work no matter where you are if you create the right environment and warn people of what you’re doing and not to bother you.

Insecurities

“Am I good enough?” Yes, you’re good enough. Some writers may be talented, but talent can only take you so far. Writing is a craft more than a gift, so keeping at it and researching all that you can will help you accomplish your dreams.

What can we do to combat these problems?

Be confident in your decision to become a writer.

Nobody wants to be a writer for fun. Embrace that you’ve taken a long and lonely road (just kidding) and that you will have to make it work. Great writing doesn’t just happen. It takes lots of dedication to developing your craft.

Work hard at it every single day.

If you can’t make every single day work, then just make an effort as often as you can. Deleting pages of writing won’t hurt as much if you’re always producing content. You’ll feel more confident in the fact that there is always more. You won’t run out of ideas or lose the perfect scene because there will always be dozens of ways to solve a problem.

Learn what you can when you can.

Research, research, research! I’m in the middle of reading about three or four different writing novels as well as reading romance novels to improve my writing. There is always more to learn and improve on and committing yourself to always find out more information will show in your writing!

Take care of yourself physically and mentally.

Your health should always come first. I know sometimes it feels like the story needs to come out now or you’ll never write it, but you shouldn’t be too overworked. Take notes. Write a paragraph here and there. Do what you need to do to keep yourself healthy and you will find time to write.

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Thank you for reading!

For anyone out there who is struggling to start your writing career, don’t be too intimidated. We all started the same way. There’s so much going on in our life that can hold us back or keep us from pursuing our dreams, but if there’s a will then there will always be a way.