Creative fears
(Everyone has them; might as well drag them out and dust them off)
Let’s talk a bit about fear around publishing, though really that includes pitching/submitting your work for publication, writing an op-ed about a topic on which you know you have much to say, writing anything in the first place, and just about any other form of putting your voice out into the world.
Sit with this question a moment: what scares and bothers you about writing and publishing your work?
Next, make a list of all the reasons why putting your work/voice/art out in a public way gets to you. Set a timer if you like, and don’t stop writing until it goes off, or write until you’ve filled a page with reasons why you haven’t yet put your work out in the world, or why you sometimes hesitate to do so, or why it feels hard to write sometimes, or why pitching is uncomfortable, etc. I mean, really interrogate this, and list everything from things that feel silly to admit (“My second grade teacher told me I was a terrible artist on finger paint day!”) to the serious (“I don’t want people to hate me and say mean things when they read what I have to say.”)
Then, with your list complete, start to divide it into two categories:
Category 1: considerations to acknowledge and move through
Category 2: challenges for which you may want to think about strategies to overcome/work around
…because those two things are hugely different things. The challenges, the real stuff? By all means, acknowledge and honor those for the monsters they are, and make a future date with yourself to list those strategies to help you through them (have a trusted friend read the comments, maybe not write that one piece, vanish to Mexico after the book comes out, etc.).
But the considerations? Let them become just that: considerations— something you acknowledge and know is there, but that you also consciously decide to go around anyway. (Because nevermind your English professor who took their bad day out on your work even though it stung at the time, and forget your dumb neighbor who is going to be a snot to you whether you publish your book/article/op-ed or not, etc.)
We’ll talk more about strategies to sock fear in the nose in a future post. But, let’s start here with this list-tool for now.