Narrative Notes

I Have the Tools and the Ideas. So Why Am I Terrified to Write?

This isn’t writer’s block. It’s the paralyzing fear of not being good enough for the stories I know I have to tell.

Image by the Samuele

I need to write this down because I need to think it through. Does that happen to you? The feeling that you can’t quite make sense of your own thoughts until you put them into words.

So, here’s the situation. I’ve read — no, studied — the Screenwriting Manual my wife bought for a university exam. I own over twenty books on how to write (and not just fiction, to be clear). I’ve listened to podcasts, watched tutorials, and asked for advice from people who write beautifully.

I also have a list of ideas for stories and even novels that’s now pushing a hundred. It’s a list that keeps growing faster and faster — I’ll have to unpack that some other time. They aren’t all gems, not by a long shot. But I know there’s something truly interesting in there.

And so?

So here I am. Procrastinating, hesitating, finding any excuse not to write. I have self-imposed deadlines, and they are looming ever closer.

Why am I not writing? Why am I not writing my stories? Why am I not telling the…