Fear of writing is almost as common as the fear of public speaking.   Unlike the fear of speaking, which is ranked higher than the fear of death or disease, writing is a little further down the list.   There is some stress associated with writing.   When you strip away all the avoidance and pretense the basic question is: “Will they like me?”   It’s simple human nature to hope someone will think that you’re likable, perhaps even lovable.   For those of us who value intellect, we hope that the people we respect think we’re intelligent.

Here’s where writing is infinitely preferable to speaking.   Instead of being in a fluid, perhaps friendly, perhaps neutral or confrontational situation, we have an opportunity to sit down and think, get everything off our chest, *smile* then delete.   Starting over, we can then think of what we really want to say, write it, refine it, change it and craft something that we can be proud of.   It doesn’t matter whether it’s an email, an entry in a journal, a letter, a blog, a compliment or complaint about a product or service.   It’s an opportunity to say what we really mean.

I’ve always been shy of expressing my feelings in writing, on paper and digitally.   To get over it, I started a ‘Letter to Mom’ as a good excuse to keep a journal.   My mother doesn’t have a computer and lives several states away but would like to know what my daily life is like.   Several days a week I write about my life and sometimes the lessons learned from daily experiences, inserting pictures to make it more entertaining and real.   About once a week I print out the letter and mail it.   This way I have a diary of sorts, practice my writing skills, and my mom gets a letter every week or so.   She’s so enthusiastic about it, how can I help but feel encouraged?   Sure, she’s my mom, but she does have taste.

Now I write, read, edit fiercely, reread, then check spelling and grammar.   If it’s what I mean to say I take a deep breath and…

Hit Send

Lisa Miller

Tags: fear of writing, journal, writing