Write it anyway

I had a moment of total anxiety yesterday afternoon as the draft of my article suddenly seemed to take on the proportions of nothing so much as a giant crazy quilt which I felt as if I were frantically darning together in some non-pattern.

I took a break to keep an appointment, and when I returned and read through the specific section that had triggered my angst, I was able to see its through-line. I did a little pruning and rearranging, a little cleaning up, and then I experienced the gift, once again, of serendipity, about which I wrote the other day. It was a moment of unexpected insight that resulted from working through the fear I'd been feeling instead of running away from it and from the writing at hand.

So today I can think of nothing better than to point readers to author Holly Lisle, her terrific website about writing, and one of her reminders there:

Remember that fear is your best friend.

If your heart is beating fast and your palms are sweating and your mouth is dry, you're writing from the part of yourself that has something to say that will be worth hearing. Persevere. I've never written anything that I've really loved that didn't have me, during many portions of the manuscript, on the edge of my seat from nerves, certain that I couldn't carry off what I was trying to do, certain that if I did I would so embarrass myself that I'd never be able to show my face in public again -- and I kept writing anyway.

At the heart of everything that you've ever read that moved you, touched you, changed your life, there was a writer's fear. And a writer's determination to say what he had to say in spite of that fear.

So be afraid. Be very afraid. And then thank your fear for telling you that what you're doing, you're doing right.

Feel the fear and write it anyway.