Emma Grace Connelly

Nine times out of ten, I’m actually doing this…

I’m obviously not writing here, but what you don’t see is me holding my phone with my neck trying (and failing) to capture a video of me “working on my manuscript”.

This advice isn’t about common grammar mistakes or querying tips or anything I do more often. 📝

It’s about perspective.

So, how does this silly exercise help writers grow?

✅ It puts a name on it

You’re a writer, and even after you’ve become brave enough to tell others about it, you have to be even braver to talk about it to strangers / editors / potential readers.

You must get used to feeling silly.

Recording something like this is an exercise in confidence (psst: and none of the ~20 people in that room questioned me for a second, by the way. They didn’t care).

✅ It beats stress

See that program I have open? Yeah, that’s a Revit model I was stressing over for midterms.

See how aggressively I was typing before slacking off? That was to get some of the anxiety out.

And the camera? Well, that was to bring me out of the moment and make me laugh.

✅ It takes off external pressure

I don’t NEED to capture a perfect aesthetic writing session. I only need something in the background to share my experience (AKA, B-roll)

This makes creating content a two-hour exercise to plan out an entire week from collected footage (AKA, necessary marketing for aspiring authors).

And planning ahead means more writing time during the week.
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Writing doesn’t always mean writing. It means enduring the process through the stress / roadblocks / doubt, and that looks different for everyone.

Make the stupid videos. Type nonsense for a moment. Become used to standing out.

You were always meant to.

(Keep writing, friend.)

#writingadvice #encouragement #forwriters #writingencouragement #writingfiction