The Fear of Failure

By georgelthomas on 13 May 2025 • ( 0 )

Hi everyone! I hope you’re all well. Today I’m exploring the fear of failure—that pernicious little devil that lives inside all writers.

Why Writers Fear Failure
Fear and creativity often go hand in hand. The fear of failure can hit especially hard when you pour so much of your heart into your words. After all, a story, article, or poem isn’t just black ink on white pages—it’s personal.

Writing is such an intimate art form. Every word, sentence, and metaphor comes from a deeply personal place. That’s why receiving negative feedback, facing rejection, or looking at a botched draft can often feel like a reflection of your self-worth as a writer.

But here’s something worth reflecting on: fear of failure merely proves that you care. It shows you’re pushing yourself enough to worry about the outcome—a sign you’re reaching for something meaningful.

Failure Makes You Better
Writing is like exercising a muscle—it only strengthens with repetition, trial, and mistakes. Here’s how so-called “failure” helps grow your craft:

It Sharpens Your Skills
When you write, submit, or share your work, and it doesn’t meet expectations, you can ask vital questions. What didn’t work? Was it a lack of clarity in your story, weak character development, or perhaps pacing issues? Each time you encounter failure, it prompts self-reflection. By exploring what went wrong, you can make changes that elevate your writing to a higher level.

It Builds Emotional Resilience
Writing is a field that’s brimming with uncertainty. Failed submissions, harsh reviews, and periods of writer’s block are par for the course. Facing failure head-on strengthens your resilience and equips you to persist. After all, the writers who succeed aren’t the ones who never fail—they’re the ones who keep going despite it.

It Fuels Creative Risks
Failure reminds us that “playing it safe” doesn’t always yield the best results. Once you’ve overcome the fear of flopping, you open up to trying new styles, exploring daring narratives, or experimenting with fresh ideas. Creativity thrives when you’re willing to leap into the unknown.

Failure is a Necessary Part of Success
The next time you face rejection, receive harsh feedback or shelve a story that didn’t work, take heart. Every writer, even the most successful ones, has been where you are.

Failure doesn’t mean you aren’t good enough or should stop writing. It’s proof that you’re trying—keep going. Your best work is always still in front of you.

Remember, writing isn’t supposed to be a sprint; it’s a marathon. Every stumble is another step closer to the writer you’re meant to become.

Learning to Embrace Failure
Alright, we’ve established that failure is a good thing—but how do you stop it from feeling like the end of the world? Here are some tips for reframing how you see failure as a writer.

Stop Chasing Perfection
Perfection is the enemy of progress; it’s that quiet voice inside your head trying to convince you to delete your draft because it’s messy. But writing is supposed to be messy. With each revision, your work will blossom—but only if you allow yourself the grace of imperfection as you go.

Rethink Rejections
A rejection doesn’t mean your work has no value. It simply means it wasn’t right for the publication you submitted to. Instead of focusing on that one submission, concentrate on the next one.

Find Comfort in the Community
Writing can feel isolating when you’re in the thick of things, but there’s an entire world of fellow writers who’ve been there, too. Joining writing groups, attending workshops, or participating in online writing communities can remind you that failure is universal—and hearing someone else’s story of persistence might inspire your next move.

Keep a “Failure Journal”
This might sound counterintuitive, but tracking your failures—whether it’s rejected pitches, poems that didn’t work out, or rough drafts that got scrapped—can work wonders. Why? Because when you revisit it after some time, you’ll notice the change and growth in your work.

Celebrate the Wins (The Small Ones, Too)
Did you finish a particularly tricky paragraph today? Celebrate! Did you reach your word count goal for the day? Do something nice for yourself. By shifting your focus to small victories, you’ll start to neutralize the power failure can hold over you.

Failure Isn’t the End—It’s a Beginning
I’ll leave you with this thought—some of the most inspiring stories I’ve read aren’t about success at all; they’re about grit, determination, and the sheer willpower it takes to turn failure into fuel.

Failing isn’t just a part of writing—it’s necessary. Without it, you’d never know where to grow, what to refine, or which breakthroughs were waiting on the other side.

So the next time your work doesn’t go the way you’d hoped, take a deep breath, maybe even take a break, but don’t you even think of stopping!.

Thank you, as ever, for stopping by to read today’s post!

Until next time,

George