How I Got Past the Fear of Being Seen (and Read)

From Pen Names to Proudly Published: A Writer’s Journey Through Fear to Authenticity

Image by from

I was terrified to be seen.

Not by strangers — they’re easy. It was the people I knew that haunted me. Friends, family, old classmates, coworkers… what if they read my writing and thought, “Wow, June, that was uncomfortably personal”? What if they started looking at me differently?

Worse, what if they liked it? What if they saw potential, expected more, and I couldn’t deliver? I’m almost embarrassed to admit it, but I feared success just as much as failure.

I wanted to write the stories that moved me, but I was afraid people would judge me for loving them.

Hiding in Plain Sight

I once wrote under a pen name. It felt safe. Liberating. No one in my real life could connect me to the work, so I didn’t feel exposed when I published.

But that anonymity came with a cost: I couldn’t fully commit. I wasn’t invested enough to market it properly or talk about it openly. I had no reason to show up for the book… because I wasn’t really showing up for myself.

Putting my real name — June A. Wambui — on this latest work? Freeing — but it also ignited something in me. If I was going to put myself out…