Kayla Hicks - Author Kayla Hicks - Author

Three Challenges We Face as Writers

2 min read

As a writer, we come to find many obstacles that stand in our way. This could be any number of things, however, most times it is ourselves that are the obstacle. When writing we sometimes feel that we are unable to meet our reader's wants and needs, or we may even feel as though creativity is not in the cards for us at the moment. This is where you need to remember to stop, take a deep breath, and charge forward. Do you face any of these challenges?

  1. Writer's block: You want to write, you have some ideas however when you sit down to write them you worry if you can properly put your ideas into words or take your readers to where your story is. There are times when ideas are at a standstill. Making some short times every day to write or even writing when you feel inspired can help solve this. This is when you need to take the chance to take a break, explore other avenues of creativity in order to allow your gears to move.

  2. Fear of Failure: This is a common obstacle among many writers. Is what you are writing going to sell or are you going to be able to gain a fan base for the work you just poured your heart and soul into? It does take time to gain traction, to gain readers, and to gain an audience. ( It doesn’t happen overnight). This means you just need to make a plan, get the word out there and love what you are writing and the rest will happen on its own.

  3. Competition: Authors take many routes to get their work out to the public. You can blog online, you can self-publish your novel, you can go through a publisher, or you can publish with other authors in the same project. Once you have gotten your work out there we all worry about what other writing in our genre is being seen in comparison to ours and in addition to ours. There are readers who specifically read traditionally published authors (they go to the bookstore and buy a book) and then there are readers who navigate the Amazon free Kindle book section (where you find more independently published). Competition is always going to be there, however leaning on other writers to input, support, and encouragement rather than competition is only going to make you a better writer.

I hope that you can look past these obstacles and believe in yourself and the wonderful storytelling that you do! Best of luck!