The causes of writing anxiety are many. Here are just a few: Inexperience with the type of writing task. Previous negative experiences with writing (e.g. someone, maybe a teacher, has given you negative feedback or said negative things about your writing)
Writing anxiety disorder is real
So, don't let anyone tell you it's not a real problem. It is. And accepting that reality is the first step toward learning how to cope with it and to overcome its worst effects. Don't confuse writing anxiety with so-called “writer's block.” Writer's block isn't a real thing at all.
Studies of artists and writers collated in Scientific American confirm that artists and writers are up to 20 times more likely to suffer from bipolar disorder (also called manic depressive illness) and 10 times more likely to suffer from depression.
Because writing is hard work. Sure, it's not physically hard but your brain uses a lot of energy and we have not evolved to spend hours a day trying to produce words from our heads. But there is a difference between being tired and feeling fatigued, stressed and on the way to burnout.
And the reason for this is very simple. When we write on a regular basis, what we're doing is we're making mistakes, and we don't know the mistakes we're making, but our brain works out, “Oh, you did this today”. And now you're doing that tomorrow.
It's hard because doing it well matters, because stories matter, and the details matter, and there are often a lot of details. Sometimes they take years to organize. The feelings and ideas and memories that we put into the writing also matter, and are layered, and we can't force an understanding of them.
The researchers determined that writers were 121% more likely to suffer from the condition, and about 50% more likely to take their own lives than the public overall. 7 In contrast, dancers, visual artists, and directors were less likely than the general public to suffer from a mental illness.
Compared to the novice brains, the brains of the expert writers showed additional activity in the caudate nucleus, which is responsible for automatic functions, and the Broca's and Wernicke's areas, which deal with language and word formation.
A Writing Mindset – It's about developing a way of thinking that supports creativity, productivity and persistence within our written work. A Writing Mindset – It's about reframing our thinking and challenging negative patterns of behaviour and automatic thinking.
People with writing anxiety might even get physical symptoms if they try to write, or to over-edit: perspiring, trembling, shortness of breath, pacing, and so on.
The first is 'scriptophobia' (Biran, Augusto and Wilson, 1981) or 'writing phobia' (Johnson, Shenoy and Gilmore, 1982), which is an irrational fear of writing in front of another person.
There is even a name for it—Scriptophobia. Often a result of previous unpleasant experiences, the fear of writing can creep deep into your psyche. You worry you will be rejected, ridiculed, criticized or embarrassed.
Many writers classify themselves as introverted because they are part of a select group of people who can create new worlds in their head, work in isolation for hours on end, and persevere to get every word just right all at the same time.
writers are around eight times as likely to suffer from mental illness than those who don't pursue writing as a career, according to Kay Redfield Jamison, a psychology professor at Johns Hopkins who wrote Touched with Fire. Consider how this could impact you. …you may be more prone to depression and anxiety.
Writers enjoy writing. Writing can be a gratifying experience for both authors and readers alike because it teaches you more about the world. It can shed light on new perspectives and helps create meaning in your life. Finding words to express thoughts and feelings is a powerful form of expression.
There are some people we might describe as “Natural Writers.” They write facilely and prolifically. They don't suffer from writer's block. They don't make grammatical errors. They naturally use transitions and connectors.
Do you need a high IQ to be a good writer? I guess it depends on how good of a writer you want to be. I'd say that no more than a 3 SD IQ would be required to have the degree of mental flexibility and endurance to write a compelling—and consistent—fictional world.
As it turns out, writers rate their career happiness 4.1 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 7% of careers.
Struggling writers often lack a strong vocabulary.
They also tend to be repetitive in their word choice and unaware of redundancies in their writing. If asked to restate an idea in different words, for example, they often struggle to do so.
Primary reasons may be one or more of the following: They have a hard time getting started and feel overwhelmed by the task. They need to concentrate to form letters: it is not an automatic process. They struggle to organize and use mechanics of writing.
Given that many novels take many years to perfect, it stands to reason that late twenties, early thirties are prime time for putting in those writing hours. Harper Lee, for example, wrote To Kill a Mockingbird at 31 and saw it published at 34.
In short, being a writer does get easier, not because the writing itself gets easier (it doesn't), but because your capacity to manage the difficulties grows exponentially—if you're willing to embrace the possibilities, endure the difficulties while they last, and reject the misconceptions that mastery is impossible.
But it may actually be more common. Experts think between 8 and 15 percent of people have it. Meet Ronnie Sidney, who went from struggling writer to published author.