What does Failure look like?
Failure. It’s the fear of something that hasn’t happened yet. For me it’s a big black pit in my stomach that calls out What if this happens …. What if that happens ….
The fear of failure holds back many a writer. What if they don’t like my work? What if it’s never produced? What if…. Fear of failure can lead to writers stall, writers block, to writers never picking up the pen again.
What do you do to fight the fear? I want to know. We all want to know how others do it.
Exercise
Personify failure. Create a picture of what failure looks like to you. Give it a name, a look, a way of standing. Turn failure into a character. And then write a scene where you talk to you failure. What would you say to this thing if you had it right in front of you? Make yourself the super hero super shipper of work and take failure down!
If it helps, print the scene up and tear the paper into little bits afterwards. Or maybe develop it further. There’s nothing more theatrical than taking something that isn’t human and put it on the stage.
If a fear of failure is holding you back, don’t stare at a blank page. Write down all your fears. Never leave a fear in your head. What’s the one thing you fear that hasn’t happened yet with the piece you’re working on? What are five steps you could take to combat this fear?
