Now that I have been retired from my career for 4 months now I've still not been able to tackle writing for myself. I've written business articles, professional correspondence and extensive reports quite successfully. I believe I can do well in the art of "writing". I wanted to pursue a new career in writing movie scripts or fictional novels. Somehow when I think of writing something and submitting it for evaluation a tightness occurs in the chest area. My throat becomes constricted and I feel like I can't breathe. What is this fear? What makes me not want to go through the process? I have braved worst enemies than this one. Somehow I haven't been able to conquer this fear that I might not be successful in my writings. This is as clear as I can put it. I have some unfinished writings, however, I haven't been able to finish them.
I saw one of my ideas formatted into a TV program. Someone else beat me to it. It's not their fault. It's mine! I didn't finish what I started because of the fear of rejection. So now I'm trying to break this vicious cycle. I know that I am not alone. There are many others out there with this same problem. It's like making a public speech. So many of us fear having to speak in front of other people. Many of us may be very good writers and can write a project but when it comes to getting it out for publication we panic. All sorts of questions come to mind. Am I good enough? Will this appeal to the movie or publishing company? Will many people go to a movie that I have written or read what I have published? If one writing project is accepted can I measure up to the task of writing other equally successful projects? These are all unanswered questions that all of us have to face.
What do you think?
