Dealing with anxiety from a writer's perspective

Over at The Writer's Inner Journey, Meredith Gordon Resnick publishes The 5-Question Interview. Today's interview is with Dennis Palumbo. In it, she asks him about rejection; it plagues all writers and creative types...and anyone who has something to sell. If your job requires you to ask someone to buy something from you, you have to admit, they could--and often do--say no.

Palumbo, author of Writing from the Inside Out: Transforming Your Psychological Blocks to Release the Writer Within and former Hollywood screenwriter who wrote for the popular '70s TV show, "Welcome Back Kotter," has good common sense on how to deal with that, which you might like to read on Meredith's blog (just click on "Today's interview" above).

But here, I wanted to write about what I read further in. Resnick asks Palumbo about the side of ourselves, what she refers to as the "shadow side," that is "riddled with fear and anxiety." She wants to know what we are supposed to do with that, and I liked his response and wanted to share and discuss it with you:

"I once had a writer patient say, 'If only I could take all my doubts, fears and anxieties and just shove them out of the room—then I could write.' To which I answered, “Write about what?' Those very feelings are the stuff from which good writing emerges.”

I love that and absolutely agree with Palumbo 100 percent.

Just as I discuss here that we have within us all we need to overcome obstacles, this is what Palumbo is saying about the act of writing or creating--or even selling. If you access what you're feeling, you can get inside the head of your characters, your clients, even your enemies. Being able to relate to that "shadow side" allows you to conquer it, to move past it...until the next round of fears and anxieties appear before you. You may have to start all over, but you'll be better prepared--with experience.

I think that's why it serves you well to pay attention to the mistakes you make, rather than ignore them. Ignoring them means you're ignoring the anxiety that generally follows. Therefore, you may not be accessing a most basic tool that you have within you--your ability to recognize or become aware--that keeps you from making that same mistake again.

Your thoughts or experiences with this?