How to Grow as a Writer

Every writer who wants to be a published author has some aspect that they dread or try to avoid altogether. I wrote a post about Being a Writer and an Introvert that discussed some of the things that I struggle with, such as public speaking. As I reread it, I realized it’s as true for me today as it was back then. In fact, many of the things I wrote in that post I still tell writers who struggle with similar issues.

Today, I’m going to delve a little bit further into my journey and the things that I’ve done that have helped me grow as a writer. I’m my harshest critic, so I don’t know why I fear how other people will respond to my work or my progress. I find that I am often disappointed with my progress and I feel like I haven’t accomplished what I would have liked to at this point.  But the other day, as I was counseling a fellow introvert and poet at the Poetry Night I host once a month for our community, it dawned on me just how far I’ve come.

He told me how he didn’t feel comfortable reading his work in front of the group we had at the poetry reading, but he allowed me to read his work to the group. Afterward, he told me maybe he could do it if we were a small group sitting around a table. “That might be less intimidating,” he said. And those words catapulted me back to the time when I wouldn’t even read my work out loud to my writing group. That was just a few years ago, and now I’m running a poetry night and reading my poetry in front of a crowd of strangers every month. It still induces a lot of anxiety, but when I remembered that I couldn’t even read my work in front of two people when I first joined a writing group, I couldn’t believe how all these little steps I’ve been taking over the last few years have added up to a lot of progress. From learning how to read my work to my writing group, which now includes five other people, to reading my stories and poems and posting them to this site, and eventually reading at a couple of open mics, which has expanded to reading at an open mic once a month. All these things that felt like small steps accompanied by huge anxiety have led me so much further than I could have hoped. I didn’t start reading my work aloud to my writing group with the intent of ever doing an open mic. But that one step led me to try the next thing.

When I think back to when I first tried dipping my toes into writing, I see another huge change. I took a creative writing class and anytime I’d let a family member or friend read my writing it was like the world was crashing down if they offered any criticism. Each time feedback was offered I seriously thought about never writing again. Why do I share this embarrassing story about my inability to take criticism? Because I know what it feels like to struggle to hang onto a dream. It’s not that I thought my writing was so brilliant that no one should be able to find fault in it, it was that I was so insecure about whether I had what it took to be an author. The weird thing was that I’d done several other types of writing. I worked as a journalist for a while and never took criticism that hard. But my dream was never to be a journalist, it was to write novels. So I had more invested in my fiction writing.

It wasn’t until a few years later when I had the opportunity to pursue writing full time that I decided that no matter what, giving up and walking away from writing was never going to be an option.

There are so many things that we tell ourselves we can’t do, or we won’t do, or that we hate doing. Most things writing-related that I don’t want to do now fall in the “hate” category because at least then I know that while I may not like doing it, I’ll still do it if it is for the betterment of myself and my writing career. When you use words like can’t or won’t, you’ve put a huge obstacle in your way. One that you’ve committed to not overcome. Any step toward your goal, no matter how small, is a success. Over the last few years, I’ve taken so many baby steps that I didn’t think I was accomplishing anything. At least, not until I found myself encouraging another writer and discovering I’m miles away from where I was last year and the year before that.

I have found that as I progress, I can draw a line behind me and know that I will never backslide past that point again, and that’s an encouraging feeling.

This next year, I plan on being very uncomfortable as I continue to push myself and grow my capacity as a writer. I plan to push and expand my ability in public speaking, in marketing, in editing, and in submitting my work. I plan on spending a lot of time in areas of my writing life that terrify me.

One thing that I’ve been aware about myself for the last few years is that my passion for writing is so great that I am willing to do the hard work to build my writing career, regardless of how difficult the task. I will not allow myself or my fear to be the obstacle that keeps me from my dream.

What do you do to challenge yourself as a writer? How do you keep growing? What aspects of writing do you dread?