Many writers are plagued by fears when they write. We all experience many negative thoughts and emotions about many aspects of our writing, from completing manuscripts to submitting them. This negative mindset can wreak havoc with our self-confidence and overall productivity levels. Therefore, it is important to overcome these fears and embrace them as much as possible to ensure that our fears don’t define us. Nor should they catapult the production and completion of our writing projects. Therefore, we must come to terms with those fears before they set in and start putting a damper on our writing lives. However, the first step is to become aware of our fears. Here are a few ways to embrace your fears. • Journal about your fears. Don’t rush this process. Take a few weeks to compile your list. Be as honest as you need to be. In fact, the more honest you are, the freer you will feel. You may want to carry a journal with you as well. That way, as soon as you have a negative thought, you should write it down. Sometimes, remembering your negative thoughts after the fact can be difficult. • Once you have completed your list of fears and negative thoughts, carefully examine them. Highlight your recurring negative thoughts and write those down on a separate sheet of paper in your journal. Choose the statements that you say most often to yourself and take steps to stamp them out over the next few weeks. Then beside the negative statement, write a positive one to replace it. • Practice saying the positive statement for a few weeks in front of a mirror. For instance, if one of your negative statements is that I will never finish this project, change this statement to I will finish this project this time. Keep repeating this positive statement instead of the negative one for a few weeks. By taking these steps, you will be developing self-confidence and embracing your fears. This is an important step to become a happy and fulfilled writer. This is also a way to patiently await great things in your writing career. They are just around the corner when you least expect it. All you must do is work hard.