Writing  Apprehension  
 
“I  was  just  too  aware  of  my  imperfections,  especially  the  failure  of  the  thesis  staring  me  in  the  mirror  
every  morning  .  .  .    Sometimes  when  I  have  to  make  a  decision  and  there  is  no  clear-­‐cut  right-­‐or-­‐wrong  
choice,  I  have  this  feeling  in  my  body,  slightly  sickly,  and  I  don’t  know  how  to  interpret  it.”  (qtd.  in  Clark  
and  Wiedenhaupt  66,  69)  
 
What  is  writing  apprehension?  
 
Writing  apprehension  is  defined  as  “negative,  anxious  feelings  (about  oneself  as  a  writer,  one’s  writing  
situation,  or  one’s  writing  task)  that  disrupt  some  part  of  the  writing  process”  (McLeod  427).  When  
writers  are  apprehensive,  they  lack  confidence  and  avoid  writing.  And  when  writers  who  are  
apprehensive  must  write,  they  often  struggle  with  invention,  write  as  little  as  possible,  and  resort  to  
highly  uniform  organization  schemas  and  sentence  patterns  (Reeves  38-­‐39).  They  also  tend  to  focus  on  
unimportant  details  at  the  expense  of  understanding  the  priority  issues  (Rosenfeld  159).      
 
Writers  may  feel  apprehensive  about  some  writing  tasks  and  not  others.  For  example,  one  writer  may  be  
able  to  confidently  compose  an  argument  about  the  history  of  sexuality,  but  find  himself  stymied  when  
he  sits  down  to  write  his  medical  school  application.  A  different  writer  may  be  able  to  complete  a  lab  
report  quickly  and  satisfactorily,  but  will  draft  and  redraft  and  never  send  an  email  to  the  attractive  
person  in  biology  class.  Thus,  writing  apprehension  is  often  situational  (Hjortshoj  7).      
 
What  causes  writing  apprehension?  
 
Apprehensive  writers  are  made  not  born;  they  become  anxious  or  blocked  through  negative  experiences  
with  writing.  The  psychology  of  writing  apprehension  includes  
• fear  of  authority  and  evaluation,  
• fear  of  failure,  
• perfectionism,  
• hopelessness  about  the  writing  task,  and  
• impatience.    (Boice  25-­‐29)  
 
Writing  practices  can  also  exacerbate  writing  apprehension.  Writers  are  more  likely  to  feel  apprehensive  
about  their  writing  when    
• the  rules  by  which  they  guide  their  writing  are  overly  rigid,  inappropriately  involved,  or  
incorrect;  
• their  assumptions  about  composing  are  misleading;  
• they  edit  too  early  in  the  composing  process;  

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 • they  lack  appropriate  planning  and  discourse  strategies  or  rely  on  inflexible  or  inappropriate  
strategies;  
• they  rely  on  conflicting  rules,  assumptions,  plans,  and  strategies;  
• they  evaluate  their  writing  with  inappropriate  criteria  or  criteria  that  are  inadequately  
understood;  
• they  are  isolated  and  unsupported.    (Rose  4)  
 
How  can  writing  apprehension  be  addressed?  

When  a  writing  situation  is  new  for  you,  you  are  more  likely  to  experience  apprehension.  Understand  as  
much  as  you  can  about  the  situation  in  which  you  are  writing.      
• Ask  your  professors  to  make  their  instructions,  requirements,  and  criteria  for  your  writing  
assignments  as  clear  as  possible.      
• Talk  to  other  students  who  have  completed  the  assignment  or  writing  task.  For  example,  if  you  
are  working  on  your  first  biology  lab  report  or  your  only  senior  honors  thesis,  you  should  talk  
with  students  who  have  written  successful  lab  reports  or  honors  theses.  What  did  they  come  to  
understand  about  these  genres?  About  an  effective  research  and  writing  process?      
• Read  very  good  examples  of  the  genre  you  are  trying  to  write  and  make  a  list  of  all  the  writing  
strategies  you  hope  to  emulate.  Your  list  may  remind  you  of  what  you  need  to  do  on  the  page  
and  direct  your  first  efforts  as  well  as  your  revision.  At  the  same  time,  don’t  let  your  models  
intimidate  you!  Remember  that  you  are  looking  at  writing  that  has  been  revised  many  times  in  
response  to  reader  feedback.  
 
If  you  have  rituals  that  have  helped  you  write  in  the  past  (e.g.,  chewing  gum,  listening  to  jazz  music),  use  
them.  
 
Force  yourself  to  approximate  your  thoughts  on  the  page,  and  then  try  to  move  ahead  to  the  next  idea.    
You  will  be  able  to  revise  later.  
 
Break  large  writing  projects  into  smaller,  immediately  manageable  tasks.  Begin  with  the  task  you  know  
best,  even  if  it’s  in  the  middle  of  your  argument.  
 
Actively  replace  the  non-­‐productive  thoughts  in  your  head  with  productive  thoughts.  To  generate  these  
thoughts  make  a  list  of  the  things  you  do  well  (e.g.,  I  read  critically  or  I  see  connections).  See  if  you  can  
finish  the  statement,  “I  am  a  writer  who  can  .  .  .”  to  identify  a  strength  as  your  starting  point.    (“Writing  
Anxiety”)  
 
Become  aware  of  your  writing  process.  Are  you  resorting  to  more  and  more  reading  and  note  taking,  
rather  than  writing?    Note  the  place  in  your  process  in  which  you  find  yourself  feeling  anxious  or  
blocked;  focus  your  efforts  on  moving  past  that  barrier.  Pay  attention,  as  well,  to  those  elements  of  the  
process  that  come  readily  to  you,  energize  you,  and  propel  your  writing  forward.  For  instance,  do  you  
gain  traction  when  you  start  by  writing  about  a  concrete  example?  What  kind  of  writing  task  facilitates  
your  thinking?  

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Acknowledge  your  difficulties  and  fears  
• by  talking  to  others  with  similar  problems  
• by  writing  more  (including  non-­‐required  writing)  
• by  sharing  writing  with  others,  including  fellow  students    
• and  by  joining  a  community  of  writers,  who  can  provide  you  with  deadlines,  support,  praise,  and  
constructive  criticism.    (Reeves  39-­‐44)  
 
When  you  have  a  positive  experience  with  writing,  celebrate  it.  This  can  include  getting  the  very  first  
page  written  or  turning  in  a  chapter  that  has  been  particularly  challenging.  You  define  your  own  writing  
success.  Keep  a  log  of  your  writing  breakthroughs;  note  how  you  did  it  and  how  you  felt.  This  log  will  
encourage  you  when  you  face  new  writing  challenges.    (“Writing  Anxiety”)  
 
“Writing  is  .  .  .  a  little  fire  you  tend  regularly,  with  sustained  attention,  patience,  and  acceptance.  It  
doesn’t  have  to  be  so  dramatic  as  a  bonfire  and  perhaps  can’t  be  for  any  length  of  time.  The  main  
requirement  is  that  you  have  to  be  there  and  to  keep  it  going:  word  after  word,  sentence  after  sentence,  
page  after  page”    (Hjortshoj  110).  
 
Bibliography  
 
Boice,  Robert.  “Writing  Blocks  and  Tacit  Knowledge.”    The  Journal  of  Higher  Education  64:1  
(Jan.-­‐Feb.  1993):    19-­‐54.  
 
Clark,  Beverly  Lyon  and  Sonja  Wiedenhaupt.  “On  Blocking  and  Unblocking  Sonja:  A  Case  
Study  in  Two  Voices.”  College  Composition  and  Communication  43:1  (Feb.  1992):    55-­‐  
74.  
 
Hjortshoj,  Keith.    Understanding  Writing  Blocks.    New  York:  Oxford  University  Press,  2001.  
 
McLeod,  Susan.  “Some  Thoughts  and  Feelings:  The  Affective  Domain  and  the  Writing  
Process.”  College  Composition  and  Communication  38:4  (Dec.  1987):    426-­‐35.  
 
Reeves,  LaVona.    “Minimizing  Writing  Apprehension  in  the  Learner-­‐Centered  Classroom.”  The  
English  Journal  86:6  (Oct.  1997):    38-­‐45.  
 
Rose,  Mike.  Writer’s  Block:  The  Cognitive  Dimension.  Carbondale:  Southern  Illinois  University  Press,  
2009.  

Rosenfeld,  Rachel  Ann.  “Anxiety  and  Learning.”  Teaching  Sociology  5:2  (Jan.  1978):    151-­‐66.  
 
“Writing  Anxiety,”  The  Writing  Center,  University  of  North  Carolina  at  Chapel  Hill.      
  http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/writing-­‐anxiety/  

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