13 Common Writing Challenges, and How You Can Overcome Them

Are you struggling with writer’s block, fear of failure, or do you just keep procrastinating?

Don’t worry. Many writers experienced the same things.

We know how frustrating it can be when trying to overcome different writing challenges.

But there are simple solutions available.

All you have to do is follow the tips we’ll outline in this article to help you with your writing problems.

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What are Common Writing Challenges?

You may think you’re alone in all this, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. There isn’t a writer in the world that hasn’t felt the same at some point. But what exactly are writing challenges? These can be any kind of problems you’re dealing with while trying to finish an essay, an article, or a book.

They may be unique to your situation, but most of the time, they’re quite generic. Let’s find out what these challenges are and how you can overcome them.

1. The difficult beginning

The first step is always the hardest. This applies to almost anything, including writing.

You may not be able to start writing as soon as you sit down, but it’s easier to get inspired once you set your mind to it.

So, if you’re sitting in front of the TV and complaining how you aren’t writing, you’d better do something about it. Finding the right inspiration for your writing can be a real challenge indeed.

2. Noisy environment

You’ve finally made a start only to be disturbed by your children, partner, or the telephone. Although you shouldn’t ignore your family or phone, you should set some boundaries. Designate a time during the day when you won’t be disturbed.

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If possible, use a quiet room where you’ll have peace and quiet and won’t have a hard time concentrating. Writing something like deep and thoughtful poetry is not going to be easy if you can’t focus on what you are trying to formulate. Something that many people do is to go to writing retreats. These are specially designed to offer writers with some peace and quiet.

3. Writer’s block

What happens when the words just won’t flow? Writer’s block is more common than you think and can be a real problem if you don’t do something about it.

Luckily, you can overcome it by finding inspiration in other things. Reading good-quality books or articles or going on a nature walk is an excellent solution.

Remember, not only novelists suffer from writer’s block. Even if you are just doing a blog post for a blog, you might still get stuck, but don’t despair, because writer’s block usually always passes.

4. Confidence issues

Fear is one of the worst writing challenges. If you aren’t confident enough about your skills, you’ll always be paralyzed when you need to start writing. And this will get you nowhere.

Now imagine if your confidence was shattered every time your editor offered a critique. You probably wouldn’t be able to write ever again. To feel more confident in yourself, take time to build your skills. By doing so, you’ll minimize your confidence issues. If you don’t have much confidence in yourself, an online coach might be able to help you to gain more confidence about your writing skills.

5. Vocabulary problems

Even if you’re a native English speaker, you still might struggle to find the right words. But this applies especially to non-natives. The solution for this is pretty simple – read and write as much as you can. Reading enriches your vocabulary and improves your English skills.

The fact of the matter is that writing skills are of course necessary for writing, and without at least a basic skillset, you’re going to have a lot of trouble. However, with perseverance, practice, and daily writing, you can improve both your skills and vocabulary to the point where writing something like a short story or even academic writing becomes second nature.

6. Tiredness

This one is pretty straightforward, but some writers still don’t know when it’s time to take a break.

If you don’t sleep enough, you won’t be able to focus on writing, and your productivity will suffer. Make sure you sleep at least seven hours every night. That way, you’ll wake up relaxed and ready to start your working day.

7. Money

If you’re a freelancer, you know how difficult it is to land a good-paying writing job. You may find yourself without any assignments for months on end. The solution here is to try and save money when you can. Then you won’t be left penniless if there aren’t any jobs on the horizon.

Alternatively, you could get a day job that will allow you to focus on writing in your free time without stressing about money.

8. Time management

Never leave your assignments until the last minute. Planning and researching will save you the stress of trying to wrap up your work minutes before a deadline. Consider incorporating a reliable time management tool, like a RFID punch clock, to help track your productivity and ensure a more organized workflow, allowing you to strike a balance between work and personal life.

This doesn’t mean you should deprive yourself of sleep or sacrifice your personal life. It means you should learn how to manage your time effectively. Doing so will allow you to have a sensible schedule and a life outside of writing.

9. Unhealthy lifestyle

Not exercising and eating nutritious food has a lot to do with your general well-being. And if you don’t take good care of your body, it’ll eventually affect your work. Although many don’t think of this as a writing challenge, it’s an issue that you can easily fix by improving your diet and lifestyle.

10. Editing and writing

The habit of editing while writing is a destructive one. Don’t worry that your work will be terrible if you don’t modify sentences immediately. By doing the two simultaneously, you’re essentially multitasking and will be unable to focus properly on either of them.

Save editing for when you’re done with your work. This way, you’ll be more productive.

Consider using a tool like Grammarly to help you edit once you’ve finished your draft:

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11. Publishing

When trying to actually publish your work, you may run into some time-consuming challenges.

A lot of writers like to use Google Docs when writing out their content. It’s free, collaborative, and easy to use. But when it comes time to actually publish your article, copying and pasting from Google Docs into a CMS can create a slew of formatting issues that take time to correct.

Thankfully, tools like Wordable can fix this issue, making it easy to reformat your entire article and move it from Google Docs into a CMS like WordPress with the push of a button.

12. Not practicing enough

Remember that writing requires practice, just like any other skill. You’ll write a lot of terrible sentences before you craft a meaningful one. The more you write, the better you’ll get at it. So, take any chance you can to practice. Explore different ideas and learn from different styles of writing.

13. The fear of rejection

One of the most significant writing challenges all writers face is the fear of rejection. You reach out to several publishers, but they all turn you down. Naturally, this leaves you depressed and subject to self-doubts.

Unfortunately, many writers go through this. Think of J.K. Rowling, who got rejected 12 times before someone agreed to publish ‘Harry Potter.’

If it’s possible, consider finding a literary agent. They’re always seeking new writers and can help you get published much easier. If you are trying to write something like a fiction novel, you need to be aware that not everybody has the same idea of what qualifies as a good book.

Wrap Up

We hope this article has taught you more about writing challenges and how you can solve them.

It’s always easier when you know many other writers experience the same problems. But if you follow our tips, you’ll improve your productivity significantly.

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