20 Reasons People Resist Writing
“You can’t make me write. I hate writing.”
Have you ever wanted to say that to a teacher?
If you have, you’re not alone.
In the late 80’s, during my first year of teaching seventh grade, Nathan put those exact words on the first page of his pristine journal. Maybe reading his entry was the starting point for my mission to help you fall in love with writing (or at least get to a place where you see the benefits of writing and it’s not as painful as a tooth extraction without painkillers).
What are your core beliefs about writing?
To accomplish my mission, it’s essential that I see and understand your core beliefs about writing. Over the years, I’ve collected a growing list of reasons people resist writing.
There is no shame in resisting writing.
Writing frustration is real, and every one of the reasons on the list is felt deeply by a lot of folks. However, before I can help you make progress toward writing love, I need to get a glimpse of your writing mindset. We need to be crystal clear about reasons why the writing process is challenging.
With that in mind, please let me know the reasons that resonate with you the most. If I’ve overlooked some reasons, I’d like to know that, too.
Reasons Humans Resist Writing
I’m just not a writer. Never have been. Never will be.
I have more of a math brain.
I can’t spell which means I can’t be a good writer.
Every time I got a paper graded in school, it came back bleeding with red correction marks. It felt horrible.
I can’t get the ideas in my head onto a piece of paper.
It takes me forever to write one sentence.
My teacher gave us hard writing assignments with long lists of directions, but never demonstrated how to do the writing.
I got grades on my writing assignments, but no feedback. I never knew what I should do to improve my writing.
In school, we did lots of grammar and punctuation worksheets, but not a lot of actual writing.
I never got to pick what I wanted to write about for assignments. The teacher always controlled my choices.
The only audience I’ve ever had was a teacher reading my writing for a grade.
Handwriting is physically hard for me. It takes too much time, and no one can decipher what I write anyway.
I don’t have anything original to say.
Whenever I try to write, I end up staring at the blank page. I’m paralyzed. I literally have no ideas.
Timed essays made me panic. There was never enough time to get my ideas on the page.
I can write factual pieces, but writing about personal feelings and experiences is way out of my comfort zone.
I’m writing in a second language.
The approach to writing is different in the United States. For example, I was taught to circle around main points, but not to be direct.
I never know how to start and/or finish my pieces.
I could tell my teachers hated teaching writing so we didn’t do it very much.
What reason resonates with you the most?
Can you guess which reason resonates the most with me?
It’s number 15.
I’ll never forget the day when I took a US History in-class essay exam during my junior year in high school. I had one hour to write an entire essay. I was paralyzed with fear. During that time, I completed two sentences and freaked out as I watched my classmates’ pens flying across their papers. I was paralyzed. My brain left the building.
Has your brain ever left the building when you were writing?
Even people who love writing have experienced pain and frustration. Give yourself some grace. No matter how you spell it, writing is hard. There’s a reason for that.
“Writing calls on the ability to create words and ideas out of yourself, but it also calls on the ability to criticize them in order to decide which ones to use.”
You’re not imagining things. Writing is HARD!
Just like you, I’ve had moments of total writing pain, but more often than not, I also know deep writing love. I want you to experience the joy of writing, too. That’s what propels my hands across pages and keyboards day after day.
Next Steps
In the spirit of inviting you into a conversation about reasons humans resist writing, I’d love to know which reasons resonated with you. I’d also love to know reasons that I might have overlooked.
Together, we can kick writing resistance to the curb. It won’t happen in the blink of an eye, but we’ll have fun along the way and it’s my dream to be your guide.
