Just Write: Creativity and Fear

We have many different names for the fear that comes along with creative pursuits. Sometimes we call it “Imposter Syndrome.” Sometimes we call it “Resistance” (because, I think, sometimes we hit writer’s block because we’re listening to fear). Sometimes we call it “The Inner Critic.” But no matter what we call it, the effect it has is the same: it’s Snow White’s poisoned apple, that creates a paralyzing slowness that congeals until it looks like death.

Fear and I have a long-standing relationship, and I know its voice all too well. “Don’t do that,” Fear says, always. “It might turn out badly.” The thing is, though, that Fear is actually a terrible predictor of the future. Its crystal ball is totally occluded. But its insufficiencies don’t stop it from trying to get in the way anyhow.

I have been fighting a Jacob-wrestling-the-angel level battle with Fear for as long as I can remember. But this past year, it started showing up with a vengeance in my creative life. Perhaps it’s because I decided to take a chance on something new — two projects that pushed me so far outside the bounds of what I thought I was capable of executing that, for the first time in as long as I can remember, I experienced a total creative paralysis.

Enter Elizabeth Gilbert’s beautiful book, : Creativity Beyond Fear . If you are at all interested in pursuing a creative life, I feel this book should be on the required reading list (and, as a bonus, get the audiobook version. She has an incredible reading voice!) In this article, I’ll…