To write consistently and to write with our true voice takes courage.
Does any of the following sound familiar to you?
“My writing’s not good enough.”
“I wasn’t born a talented writer.”
“There are so many better writers out there. Why bother?”
“Nobody would be interested in what I have to write about, anyway.”
Let me quickly share something about fear. You may not have realized this, but it’s a sneaky bugger. Fear disguises itself in devious ways. It’ll show up like a billion things to do instead of writing OR a billion things to research instead of writing OR a billion blogs/books to read, instead of writing. You get the point.
Unfortunately, fear doesn’t just stop you from writing consistently. It also impacts the way you write. Do you know what stops you from writing posts and articles and books that people connect with and devour like they’re ravenous and have been searching for you for years?
Again, fear.
So you write what feels comfortable. Maybe following a formula or imitating the style of other writers. That feels safe. Here’s the thing: when you write like that, it feels hard and boring. For you and your readers.
You want to write in a way that connects with your readers. You want to open up and share your personality, your dreams, hopes, and even your fears.
Unless you’re writing technical manuals, you can dramatically step up your writing game if you connect with your writing voice.
But this can feel scary.
“What if people don’t like me?”
“What if I open up and it sounds awkward or boring?”
“What if readers judge me for who I am/what I’ve done/how I live/what I hope for?”
Scary, yes. But it’ll do wonders for your writing. And your audience. Look around the internet. There’s a lot of robot writing. A smorgasbord of rehashed posts and articles written in an imitative style. How do I know this? I’m guilty. I’ve done it before, too.
It took a lot for me to get out of that rut. Sometimes, if I’m not careful, I slip back down there again. The first step to climbing out of that quicksand of writing like a bore? Building my courage.
I’m Alicia-Joy. I’m a writer, editor, and writing coach. Since, 2012, I’ve published 3 books of my own + ghostwritten 5 for clients. I’ve also provided editing, writing training, coaching, and ghostwriting services to clients for over seven years. I’m a current member of the Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA).
I’ve created a free challenge to share every exercise and mindset tool I know to help you build your writing courage.
The challenge lasts 14 days. It’s your jumpstart. Let’s be clear, it will take much more than just 14 days to build courage, but by day 14, you’ll be on a roll and will have a stronger sense of awareness and tools to write courageously. That’s my wish for you.
What do you get when you sign up for the challenge?
You get 14 days of courage-building tools and exercises. Starting tomorrow (no matter when you’re reading this), you’ll receive one email a day for the 14 days.
The format of the emails will vary. Some days it’ll be a quick audio, other days you’ll have an exercise to complete. Each day is building upon the last to strengthen those courage muscles.
The challenge will cover three main themes:
1. Quieting your inner critic
2. Building and sustaining the courage to connect with your true voice and write from that space
3. Sharing your work (without feeling crippling hesitation and worry)
I like to keep it real: Some of the tasks will feel uncomfortable. I will be giving you gentle nudges to do a few things that may be just outside of your comfort zone. That’s the point. You are incrementally challenging yourself to build those courage muscles and develop a few habits that push through the fear and get you writing consistently and deeply.
Your challenge starts tomorrow.
Let’s do this! When you sign up today, you’ll receive a welcome email with a few tools to get you ready for the challenge.
Sign up by entering your email address:
*By signing up, you’re agreeing to this website’s privacy policy. Please note you will also receive email updates and tips on writing and I’ll update you when I have offers available for purchase.
See you in your inbox!
–Alicia-Joy