I’m sure it happens to everyone. You step out of your comfort zone (maybe you felt adventurous or someone forced you) and then when first start, it’s like “ugh, I hate myself” and “why can’t I get this right?”
I started debating last year. Yes, I was scared, but I knew it would help with my public speaking. My first speech was the most awkward thing ever. It was terrible- lots of blushing and sweating and stuttering and looking down at my paper. I really wanted to quit- I was embarrassing myself in front of others who knew what they were doing.
But I didn’t quit. The more I spoke and practised, the better I got. You get used to it and progress slowly creeps up on you. The fear of speaking slowly faded away. I learned there really was nothing to be scared of. Your audience isn’t there to mock you and laugh at you. They’re just curious and attentive about what you have to say.
It’s okay to suck for a while. It’s expected and normal. I learned to accept it; everyone goes through the same phase. I know you do too. With a little (err.. I mean A LOT of) experience and practice, you’ll get better. I promise.
Think, Dream, & Believe 
Thank you! I played my first Toastmaster role today. I made it!
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Well done you! I’m terrible at public speaking, which as I want to be a published writer is not a good thing! I’ve done one public reading and stuttered and sweated through the whole thing. Well done for sticking with it – a brilliant achievement 🙂
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Haha, thank you- speaking and writing is actually not too different. Have you wrote any books?
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Ha! Yes, written three but all unpublished thus far. I’m working on getting an agent, but no luck yet. You never know, though 🙂
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Oooh! What are they about?
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One’s a middle grade fantasy story set in a tower block that behaves in very strange ways. One’s a murder mystery set in the 1970s where an older lady and a teenage boy investigate a crime that happened forty years earlier. And the most complete is a Young Adult time travel novel. Also writing an urban fantasy / murder mystery about a man who sees ghosts. As you can see, if it doesn’t involve fantasy or history, I won’t be writing it 🙂
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WOW, that sounds impressive. How long does it usually take you to write a novel? I’m fairly young but I really want to publish a book. I have no idea how to start or how long it will take. I guess I should finish my story first! On average, how many pages or words are your novels?
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The YA book is around 80,000 words, though I’m guessing the one I’m writing at the moment might be longer. And the books really aren’t as impressive as they sound – two of the books are only to first draft stage, very rough and badly written. I like the concepts of them still but one day I’ll rewrite 🙂 Word count really depends on how it’s flowing that day and your other commitments. If you can only manage 200 words – 100, 50 – a day, then write that. Some authors will aim for 1,000 but you have to find what you’re comfortable with. Writing a novel takes a longe time. There’ll come a point (at least one) while you’re writing where you’ll be disillusioned with what you’re writing and it will be a slog. And others where it will flow. I’m not a fast writer – I’ve been working on the YA book for eight years, though in that time I’ve also written the other books I’ve mentioned, lots of short stories and hundreds of blog posts. If I ever got a publishing contract I’d have to write quicker and spend less time on the blog 🙂
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