Writing is My Home
I don’t think anyone ever becomes successful without practicing in public. It might be scary to open yourself up to criticism, but I don’t think anyone who doesn’t receive feedback can ever truly become better at what they do.
Some people say that it gets easier to press publish the more often you do it.
I’ve found that in a way, it’s scarier.
The first time you hit that button, it’s like you’re screaming into the void.
But once people are watching you, they expect a certain level of quality from clicking on a piece with your name attached to it. And now it’s up to you to make sure that each piece of writing you click publish on will meet the expectations of your expectant readers.
Although I don’t have many followers here, I’m no stranger to this feeling.
The first time I experienced this was as a teenager writing fanfiction. It wasn’t good, I’ll admit. The traces have been scrubbed from the internet as well as they could be. Yet, the Wayback Machine ensures that my digital footprint exists forevermore. I may not be proud of what I wrote back then, but I look back on that time in my life fondly. I loved publishing my works chapter by chapter and having reviews come in.
Yes, even the negative reviews.
