Writers Worth: Removing One Fear

There’s something about the first day after Labor Day that feels, well, serious. Summer gear put away (even if it’s still warm enough to use it), summer attitude stowed, and it’s down-to-business time, isn’t it?

I’m stubborn. I hang on to that summer feeling until the warm weather is gone completely. Last year, that was mid-October.

But since everyone else is in the “time to get serious” mood, let’s talk about how you, freelance writer, might be letting fear hold you back.

We covered fear in depth during this year’s Writers Worth Month. And it was popular — really popular. Why?

Because we all live and work with some level of fear. The beginning freelancer, unless she’s a Type A get-out-of-my-way-and-let-me-rock-this personality (Devon Ellington, I’m looking at you!), is littered with fears. I was. And I still have fears. They show up with the shit goes south. You know those times — clients aren’t satisfied, a crazy one shifts the parameters and the rules on you, someone tells you your work has many errors… even if you’ve done nothing or next-to-nothing wrong, it gets to you. I had a case of that two years ago. Even with what amounted to over 20 years of writing experience at the time, I let that ghost of “I can’t do this” dance.

Yep. Even me.

And don’t think your fear is unique — here are the fears I cycled through, as have many other writers before you.

• I’m not good enough
• They may not like my work
• I don’t have a degree
• They might reject me
• What if I screw up?
• What if I can’t finish the assignment?
• What if what I have to say is stupid?

What if, what if what if….

But you never think “What if they love it?” do you? No, neither did I.

So here’s the one fear we’re going to exorcise today:

Fear of not being good enough.

I’m going to reveal a little secret about freelance writing:

You don’t have to be fabulous — you just have to be competent enough.

How do I know? Because I saw it play out in any number of cases with quite a few clients. I’d write something. I’d be unsure that it was right. I’d warn them in email that it was an initial draft, and I sat back, expecting multiple revisions that never came.

Instead, I got “This is great!” or “Exactly what we were looking for” comments.

Huh?

That’s right — what I wasn’t sure about (was that my fear talking?) they said was fine.

How’s that possible? A few things may have been happening, and probably happen when you’re in this same situation:

• It was fear of screwing it up talking
• The client had communicated well and I’d listened well
• It really was better than I thought
• I’d hit the main points and that was what they were hoping for

So I guess there are two fears going on here — fear of not being good enough and fear of screwing up (they’re close cousins anyway). What if I’d listened to that little voice saying “You’re gonna screw it up”? What if I’d let that fear, or even the fear of not being good enough, keep me from finishing that project? Or had caused me to spend countless extra hours fussing over it to the point where I’d lost my direction completely?

Yep. I’d have not been good enough.

We always run a risk of not delivering the right thing. But in cases where you’re nervous, just preface every conversation with how you’ll be delivering a rough draft that the client and you will work from. That alleviates pressure and helps you both to relax a little.

There are other things you can do to make sure you get it right, thus decreasing your agita over not being good enough:

• Do about 10-15 minutes of preliminary research before talking to the client: this helps particularly when you know the topic you’ll be covering. Get some statistics down — search for “[your topic] statistics” and the year (usually the previous year is available).
• Create five smart questions: don’t get lazy and ask the obvious. Ask things that will help you understand what that client wants. A favorite of mine is “What’s the underlying message you want readers to take away from this?” It helps you understand their goals and helps narrow your focus.
• Get an outline approved: I hate working from outlines, but if you’re nervous about screwing up, it’s a really good way to get your client on the same page before you spend days writing. Just quick headers with a few bullet points each (forget that outlining you were forced to do in school — it’s still useless).
• Follow up if you need to: Sometimes you have more questions. Or you’re unclear on something. Get back in touch with your client. Ask more questions, or ask for a quick summary of what they’re wanting.
• Record everything: I record conversations so I know from start to finish what they want. There are plenty of nuances in every conversation, and if your client is someone who switches direction a few times per conversation, you’re going to need that electronic backup to remember what the parameters of the assignment are.

Writers, how do you deal with your fear of not being good enough?
When was the last time you felt that way? What preceded it?