This is Step 3 of 7 of your enrollment in the Fear of Writing Online Course
“EACH STEP in the course helps participants find, then befriend, and finally let their creative muse fly free. There is always the safety net of the course leader forcing you to pay attention to habits that sabotage your writing, and helping you build habits that lead to true productivity.
“Milli wants students to be free, as creativity is. However she doesn’t ignore the subtle signs of a writer sending out an SOS. Little by little she helps students notice when they need help, and also waits until they actually do call out for help.
Personally, I felt I didn’t want to bother someone with a request. However, Milli could spot a seemingly small problem that really needed to be fully addressed before moving on to even more creative writing. She taught me that HELP is the most powerful four-letter word.”
— Meg Sweeney, Itano gu, Japan, Fear of Writing Online Course graduate
As you learned in the FAQs, we’re not here to teach you “good writing.” Our mission is to help you reconnect with your creativity and liberate your imagination.
During Orientation you’ll be given more guidelines re: what to focus on and what to leave at the door (such as perfectionism) in order to relax as much as possible and enjoy the writing.
It’s all about being a good student, developing good habits and learning Easy Button ways to get solutions for your problems—behavior quite the opposite to the normal patterns of anyone who is stuck in their fear of writing.
Being a good student is not the same as “good writing.” Like any skill in life, writing skills must be nurtured and developed over time. This course will be part of your apprenticeship. For the 8 weeks you’ll be with us, as long as you allow your creativity to peek from behind its veil—and eventually emerge from behind the curtain—you’ll be writing right.
Our assignments are all designed to elicit this from you, so you don’t even have to worry about how. The “how” is our job.
However, there are ways you can hinder yourself greatly from receiving the benefits that are layered into the 18 writing assignments. So, what are these bad habits that could cause you wasted opportunities or needless agony?
— Skipping around or looking ahead in the course curriculum
— Procrastinating about doing the writing and thus letting your weekly assignment deadlines pile up
— Staying alone with your problems (not getting help or clarification when you need it)
— Having a pacing blow-out (going too fast or too slow)
— Not taking yourself seriously enough as a writer to give yourself the gifts offered by this course
Every one of the items on the list above can either be avoided altogether or remedied as you go along. During Orientation, we’ll provide you with all the awareness you’ll need to avoid these things to begin with. But, human nature is such that it can take repeated experiences to reverse habits that have become ingrained in the psyche.
The habits created by the condition known as fear of writing can go all the way to self-sabotage. Many times, the student herself doesn’t recognize that self-sabotage is trying to take her back to her old, familiar comfort zone—and that’s why we’re asking you to become a good student. Because that’s the best way to defeat these old patterns.
* Being a good student means getting your writing done.
* Writing on a regular basis is your key to creative freedom.
* And that takes sustained effort over time.
The Very Best Reason to Aim for Excellence
Being a good student is directly related to critical things such as enjoying the assignments and getting some healing for your fear of writing, so it’s well worth the effort to aim for an Excellent on your invisible grade of Being a Good Student.