“Sometimes your destiny is wrapped up in a veil of fear to check if you really have the courage to face it.” — Marcus Hades

So, did you do it? You know, state “new year, new me” at the top of new year? It’s okay. I did too. The only problem is that I said the same thing last year. Don’t blame the motto though. You can and should strive to better yourself, but if you keep carrying around that old fear of the unknown you’re likely to be that same old person you were.

So here are a few things to help you into becoming the new you your writing self deserves.

Stop fearing failure.

“Failure is part of the creative process. If you’re afraid of it, you can’t really create.”—Danny Devito

Writing is a challenge in itself. However if the goal is to see your work out in the world there is another challenge waiting for you. Actually putting it out there. Gasp! Don’t allow the voices that say you can’t or no one cares take over. You have to be willing to take that leap.

Stop telling yourself there is no time.

“I put a piece of paper under my pillow, and when I could not sleep I wrote in the dark.” — Henry David Thoreau

It’s easy to convince yourself that you’ll never have enough time to finish that novel. But there is. Even the time reading this is enough time to scribble a couple of words down which will propel you closer to completion. Carry little notebooks and a pen, get apps on your phone, use a voice recorder. Finish that book!

Don’t go it alone.

“Surround yourself with the dreamers and the doers, the believers and thinkers, but most of all, surround yourself with those who see the greatness within you, even when you don’t see it yourself.” — Edmund Lee

I had a little chuckle as I thought back to the original Legend of Zelda game where the old man in the cave offers you a wooden sword while saying “It’s dangerous alone. Take this.” Okay, nerd chuckle over. As lonely as writing is it doesn’t need to be. Have some writerly friends, start a writing group, make an online writing community. They can be accountable for you, and you can be accountable for them. Make a game of it to keep each other going, you know, do what non introverted people do.

That’s a few things to help with the new year, old fears. What do you do?

Until next time have a writeous day!

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Matt Williams is an avid reader, a collector of many pens, an ever improving father of two, and an all-around fanboy. When he’s not wrestling with cats or a long commute you can find him hunkered down writing something imaginative. He’s working on publishing his first book Beyond Here, a middle grade story involving a coma and a singing flower with a bent stem sometime in 2016, along with a few projects with his other daughter.