The Confidence to Write: A Guide for Overcoming Fear and Developing Identity as a Writer

by Liz Prather

"I can't write." How often do we hear this every day from students at all different skill levels? What is it about writing that causes such self-doubt, disabling procrastination, and fear of failure? "So many students do not identify writing as a positive experience or identify themselves as writers," Liz Prather says. "We rarely talk about the social-emotional resilience needed around the act of writing." In The Confidence to Write , Liz argues that we can help students reset their writerly self-regard by naming and examining their writing identity through practical activities she calls Metawrites. Metawrites are writing prompts that serve as invitations to students to think and write about their own writing. Woven throughout the book, along with commentary and advice from professional writers, Metawrites inspire students to confront and overcome the "I can't write" mentality. "By naming and disarming our fears," Liz writes, "-imposter syndrome, perfectionism, procrastination, and so on-we provide students strategies they can use the rest of their lives." A positive writing identity leads to writing courage, and writing courage leads to writing confidence. Help lift the burden of the mental obstacles that can invade the writing process and inspire your students to, as Liz says, "feel the fear and write anyway."

Genres: Teaching

216 pages, Paperback

Published March 29, 2022

Reviews

[Rachel D. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m so grateful for CUWP (Central Utah Writing Project) since I read this as part of a book group with them. Prather gives great prompts for students and teachers to respond to, and the strategies she shared are things that can be done easily in a middle school or high school classroom. I’m excited to use these strategies and ideas with my seniors as we start a new semester.

[Rebekah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved reading this book with my teacher education students. They're probably not happy with me now since I'm making them write every day for 40 days, but I want them to really think about habit and honing their writing chops. Prather's book gives great insight into her struggles and triumphs with writing and has practical writing prompts--MetaWrites--and suggestions for use in the classroom and for teacher-writers.

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can think of no better book for teachers of writing to read before starting a new school year.

[kaylee smedley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I genuinely can't recommend this one enough. One of the best teaching books I've read this year, and I cannot wait to reread it!

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's always nice to hear that other people feel the same way about things that you do. Prather does a good job of talking about the fears that keep people from writing and has some great exercises for students and teachers to develop writing confidence. I look forward to putting many of these ideas into action throughout this coming school year.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a little weird to mark a professional development book as a 5 star book, but here we are. This was super helpful for both teaching writing and experiencing writing. I marked a ton of stuff to go back to, and it was unexpectedly authentic and motivating. I want to push aside my apprehensions about writing even more after reading this book!

[Jenni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Appreciate the resources and reproducibles in the book. A lot of content is geared to an environment where writing (especially narrative) is the primary focus, but it does offer hints and tips to increase confidence in all areas.

[Robbin Ivie · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most practical and helpful academic books I’ve ever read. She is still actively teaching and it shows because this is so much more helpful than just a bunch of writing philosophy from people who haven’t worked with a teenager lately. I am so glad I read this.

[Holly Witter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly a remarkable book! A great guide to truly teaching kids HOW to write and tackle their demons. Every teacher who wants their kids to write well needs this book.

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the second half of the book. I found the first half not as useful or helpful for me as a middle school teacher. Great for high school but not mu 6th graders.