How to overcome the fear of writing

I clearly remember the first blog post that I wrote.  I agonized for hours over what to write.  I wondered how people would react.  Each sentence was examined and re-examined.  Throughout the entire process, fear prevented me from continuing.  I am writing this post during a break between meetings and it takes me a tenth of the time.  The biggest change that has happened is that I have already gone through the process of writing and posting blogs.  I know what to expect and what to avoid but most importantly I eliminated the fear associated with writing a blog post.


I faced a similar situation writing my first book.  I was not sure if it was good enough or how people would react.  However, once I published the book on Amazon, Industrial Strength Techniques for Home Organization, I realized that my fears were unfounded.  As I write my next book that will tie together much of the concepts from this blog, the writing process is much easier.  Time is spent producing content rather than agonizing over thoughts.

Many of our fear come from not knowing what will happen and our imagination creates dangers that are far scarier than reality.  Once we have gone through the experience once, we realize that most of our fears were unfounded.    Entrepreneurs also must go through the fear cycle.  The first customer pitch, the first VC meeting, the first hire.  All of these events become second nature after having experienced them once.

The trick then is to get people over the initial hurdler of an experience so that they can move on and accomplish great things.

With this in mind, how can companies like Amazon help people overcome their fear of writing?

Soft Launch:  One technique is to use a staging area where people can publish their work without exposing it to the world.  This is typically used for technical reasons to help people correct errors but it should also be used to help people overcome the initial fear of uploading their first work.  The soft launch would allow people to share their work with a small group of friends minimize the fear of public scrutiny that may stifle the creative process.

Priming:  The second technique uses priming.  When people describe how they are going to perform an action ahead of time, they are more likely to follow through with that action.  Amazon could help people create a schedule for writing the book.  To help break the project into smaller parts, people could upload individual chapters according to the schedule that they created.

Offer a Mulligan:   In golf, it is not uncommon for people to mess up their drive on the first tee.  A Mulligan is a do over and the second shot is usually much better.  Amazon should encourage first time publishers to create a smaller book or a collection of short stories.  Once people have the confidence of publishing one book, they can move on to writing their epic novel.

By understanding that first time writers often need help overcoming the fear of writing,
Amazon can take steps to minimize this fear and lay the seeds for the next great novel.