I Can’t Write That. Someone’s Already Done It.

By Sarah Boon

One of the biggest roadblocks to writing is our internalized idea that it won’t be “new,” that other people have written about it before—and we suspect they have done a better job than we ever will. We worry that readers will think we’re copying other writers, or that the idea has been written to death and won’t appeal.

Five years ago I had a career stumble that stemmed from this roadblock. I was approached by an excellent magazine to write a feature on one of two topics. ...