“Who Am I To Write This?” How To Shake Your Newbie Writer’s Nerves

I’ll have to say this ring, so Game of Thrones. This is like a fantasy ring for me. Or like if I was a fairy princess in the Hobbit, I would do some magic with this ring, right? Just saying.

Hey, it’s Marie Forleo and you are watching Marie TV, the place to be to create a business and life you love. And if you want a business and life you hate, turn this off right now because I am very irritating to you. This is Q&A Tuesday. That means we have Qs and we have As. And today’s question comes from a beautiful woman named Aliene and she writes, hi Marie and team. Each week I turn on Marie TV and I must say every episode is an eyeopener. Thanks for all the inspiration. You’re welcome.

Here’s my Q. I’ve recently discovered how much I love writing. It’s a way to share my knowledge with other people. But as a designer, I’ve never had any education in writing. So often when I’m writing an article, I’ll start thinking, who am I to share this knowledge? Who am I to pretend I know at all? And who am I to write this article? These thoughts can make me feel tired, take away my enthusiasm and turn it into fear. Is there anything I can do to make these thoughts go away? Do you have tips that I can practice the next time I write an article? Thank you so much. Lots of love from the Netherlands. Aliene.

Great question. Whether you’re a beginner or you’re a more seasoned pro, I think all of us can have that thought. You know what? Who am I to write this? That’s called resistance and it’s probably why Ernest Hemingway drank so much. You know what? He probably needed this Marie TV.

Maybe you need this Marie TV.

I see three things in your question and yes, I have a tip for each. First, let’s cover the insecurity that you have because you’re not a trained writer. We got to know something. Neither am I. I am a writer because I write. I’ve never actually had any formal training. I’ve just been doing it for years and when I first started, I got to tell you I was pretty darn bad, but there was one thought that really helped me out that I want to share with you right now. Writing is just talking in text form and most of us don’t ever get talker’s block, right? When we’ve got something to say, we just say it. So that’s tip number one. I want you to think about writing as just talking in text form and write how you talk.

Second thing I want to address is this destructive association that you have between writing an article and that meaning you’re a know-it-all. That’s the worst idea ever if you want to create anything and share it with the world. Look, the people that we trust the most are people that are just honest about their learnings and their experiences. They give us research and statistics when it matters, and of course they cite their resources.

So when you share something in the form of, Hey look, here’s something great I learned and I think you’d love to know it too, just say that. It’s awesome. And don’t ever pretend to know it all because you don’t, none of us do. Instead, use tip number two, which is the LSC method. It stands for Learn, Share and Credit. So when you learn something, if you want to share about it, that’s awesome. If it was based on your own experience, that’s all you got to do. But if you learn something from somewhere else, maybe another author, a website, a research study, just cite your sources. It’s all you got to do. So this way you’re not like, “Hey look, I invented this. These are all my ideas.” You’re like, “Hey look, I found something cool for you and I really think you’d appreciate it and here’s why.”

Finally, let’s address the real heart of this. You said that you love writing and when you love doing something and it brings you energy and you want to do it more, you should do it more. That means it’s one of your gifts. It’s one of your strengths and you never know. It may be one of the reasons that you’re here on earth.

No, I think you’re here on earth.

Think about it this way. If you don’t share all of these ideas and you’re writing, you’re actually keeping your gifts from all of us. Another way that I like to say it is you’re stealing from those who really need you most. So remember this last tip and yes, it’s a tweetable.

When you’re afraid to write, don’t think, who am I to say this, but who am I not to say this? That was my 80 year cue. Please let us know how it goes. Now I would love to hear from you. Does the fear of sounding like a know it all ever stop you? Got any more tips or tricks you’d love to share? As always, the best conversations happen after the episode over at marieforleo.com. So head on over there. Get those little fingers moving and leave a comment now.

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Up. Wrong leg. The other Smurfy needs a coffer? You want to come be drunk? Come on.

No. You create a business and life you love.