Salaam Reader,

I’ve been toying with an idea for a novel for a few years now. I’ve written some random scenes and occasionally think about the plot and how the story might end.

But every time I think about actually sitting down and starting, I get nervous.

I’ve experienced this many times before, as have many writers I’ve worked with. And I'm trying to remind myself that this is normal.

It’s okay to feel nervous and worried about our writing, to feel like we don’t know what we're doing, or to feel unsure about whether what we're trying to attempt is working or not.

When we write something new, we're stepping outside of our comfort zone. And although it can be scary and we might be tempted to just stick with what we know and what’s worked for us in the past, we'll never know what more we're capable of if we don’t try.

Our nerves and our anxiety are there because we're challenging ourselves, exploring new terrain, applying new skills.

Even if the results don’t come out exactly how we imagined — that new POV sounds awkward; the new structure feels forced; the rhythm of the sentences is off — we've still made progress. We've stretched our writing muscles and gained new insights and understanding about craft.

I have to remind myself that our work as writers is never done.

There are always new things to learn, new ways to write our stories, and none of it will ever make us feel like we know exactly what we’re doing.

But that’s part of the joy of it, isn’t? Being able to pull something off that you didn’t think was possible for you.

So let’s keep trying new things in our writing. Let’s keep pushing ourselves and see what more, what else we can write. We’ll never know if we don’t try.

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With best wishes for your writing,

Hajera Khaja Writer + Creative Writing Teacher & Coach

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P. S. I’m running a workshop next week on picture book structure. If you've always wanted to write a picture book, or you want to experiment with new ways of structuring your stories, this workshop is for you!