In this episode of What If? For Authors, Claire explores the question many writers whisper (or shout) during overwhelm: What if my book isn’t important? She breaks down why this feeling often has less to do with your talent or discipline and more to do with nervous system overload, attention hijacking, and the way “importance” becomes relative when everything feels urgent.

Claire explains how to tell the difference between a book that truly isn’t important to you anymore… and a book that is important, but has been drowned out by noise, fear, and impossible expectations.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

Why overwhelm can make your creative brain “close up shop”

How hyperarousal (anxiety, rage, panic) and hypoarousal (freeze, fog, dissociation) sabotage focus

Why “my story doesn’t matter” is often a nervous-system message, not a truth

Three paths forward when your book feels unimportant:

Reduce threatening noise

Create a writing warm-up ritual to re-enter the story

Consider whether the book truly isn’t important right now (and what freedom that offers)

How to make a story feel more important by increasing relevance and emotional resonance

The difference between “important,” “special,” “useful,” “successful,” and “safe”

How each Enneagram type can misread “this isn’t important” as a coping mechanism

Resources & Links

Claire’s offerings: liberatedwriter.com

Write Iconic Characters: books2read.com/WIC

Claire on Substack: liberatedwriter.substack.com

Support the Show

If this episode helped you reconnect with meaning (or at least stop beating yourself up), please leave a review on your favorite podcast platform and share it with an author friend who’s feeling overwhelmed.

Happy writing!