Writer’s Block (Part 9 of 16)

I often see a resistance that shows itself in two different ways. The first is fear of failing. "What if I can't pull off my ideas? What if I fail to say it right?” By contrast, there are those who fear success. "Suppose I write a book—a really good book? Then I have to do it again. I don't know if I could do it again."

We've all known of people who have written one wildly successful book and never wrote again. To Kill a Mockingbird is one example.

My response is, "So what? What's wrong with having one great success? Isn't it better to have one big success than ten failures?" Even though I speak those words, they rarely impact the ones who’ve given into a fear of being successful. Until they figure out how to get beyond that barricade of resistance, they probably won't write.

Fear of failure; fear of success.
Either can paralyze gifted writers.