1. Spelling something wrong in a Very Important Email. (You checked it 20 times already, but STILL.)

2. Not being “good enough.”

3. Being accused of somehow cheating your way to success even though you’ve done everything the “right” way.

4. People lying to you about how good you are/aren’t at writing.

5. People just not liking what you write … or you …

6. Someone publishing “your story” before you do. (It’s happened to me!!)

7. Spending years pursuing a dream that never comes true.

8. Getting rejected after working really hard on something.

9. Not being able to use your words to make a difference.

10. Failing … just in general.

11. People looking down on you because you don’t have a “real” job.

12.  Saying “I’ll write it tomorrow” until your final tomorrow.

It’s normal to be afraid of things not working out or not living up to your own/others’ expectations. It’s OK. But remember that you are not alone in any of this. Every single writer has at least one of these fears at some point, and many of them push through that fear and achieve their goals anyway.

So can you.

So take a deep breath. Acknowledge that you may fail. Then dive headfirst into writing anyway.

Meg is the creator of Novelty Revisions, dedicated to helping writers put their ideas into words. She is a staff writer with The Cheat Sheet, a freelance editor and writer, and a 10-time NaNoWriMo winner. Follow Meg on Twitter for tweets about writing, food and nerdy things.

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