What I've learned is that it's much more nerve-wracking to write than angst.

Yup. But so worth it. *grin* One of my favorite authors, G.K. Chesterton, recognized this, as well:

"Their (several of his essays') chief vice is that so many of them are very serious; because I had no time to make them flippant. It is so easy to be solemn; it is so hard to be frivolous."