There’s a place in your writing life for composing pieces you never plan to publish — journaling your private thoughts, screeds about the state of the world you simply must get off your chest, exercises to improve your writing skills, and more.
But in general, as a self-employed professional or creative, who is writing to build your business or to get paid, you are writing pieces or projects that must be published in order to achieve their purpose.
I get it, though, publishing can be scary.
Once you make your work public, you open yourself to criticism, argument, or disbelief. The more deeply felt your writing piece is, the more difficult it can be to press publish or hit send.
Bestselling author Stefan Merrill Block knows the feeling. And, he offers a solution:
“I have wanted, many times, to tear the limbs off of something I’ve already published. But publishing my work — fixing it in digital or paper permanence that forbids retroactive destruction — has taught me a lesson… The trick to managing shame, or at least my trick, is a kind of shame/faith balancing act: to see my present insufficiencies clearly but also to distance myself from them with a faith in the better, confident, competent artist I could someday be.”
Reading Stefan’s words brings me a sense of relief. I feel validated that this bestselling author also experiences a feeling of vulnerability after publishing a piece that seems imperfect. And his proffered solution provides me with a reframe of that feeling to a more positive outlook.
Don’t be afraid to publish what you write. It can mean you’re on the path to continually becoming a better writer.
