1. Not knowing what to write about. (You will discover something!)
2. Being afraid that you’ll share your work and no one will read it.
3. Being afraid that you’ll share your work and everyone will hate it.
4. Knowing where you want your characters to end up but not how they get there. (UGH.)
5. Not knowing what genre your book belongs in. (Which isn’t a major issue during the actual writing process, but many still struggle nonetheless.)
6. Balancing believable dialogue with intriguing imagery, compelling metaphor … all of it. No writer is good at everything, but you learn how to lean on your strengths while learning to improve.
7. Believing your words will never be “good enough.” (You may always have doubts, but you will come to learn to recognize them as untrue.)
8. Writing stories inspired by the stories you love instead of obvious copies of those exact stories.
9. Naming things. (At least I’d like to believe some of us get better at this … maybe.)
10. Not knowing what your next step/story/project should be. (Or if you should have one now … or not.)
11. Deciding whether or not you’re comfortable talking about what you’re working on. (You do eventually figure out what’s best for you in each situation.)
12. Doubting that you can make your writing dreams come true. (You can. And you will start to believe it. Eventually.)
Meg is the creator of Novelty Revisions, dedicated to helping writers put their ideas into words. She is an editor and writer, and a 12-time NaNoWriMo winner. Follow Meg on Twitter for tweets about writing, food, and Star Wars.
Meg Dowell Writes 