In My Writing, I Trust

            I have a few friends who are writers and who are scared of publishing their work. They want to, but they’re scared. I find
that this is a common consensus among many writers who are starting out. They
want to publish, and they see the benefits and know it is a key part of success as
a writer, but they are too scared to really attempt to turn that intention into
action. This fear forms a boundary or barrier that is often masquerading as
insecurity, and it prevents us, as writers, from reaching our true potential.

Let me put it less
like a bad version of something you’d hear from Ghandi. It’s like that friend
that loves to go window shopping with you every weekend because they complain
none of their clothes fit them anymore, but they don’t bother going in and
trying anything on. So every time, without fail, you leave the mall and they’re
complaining about “not finding anything,” when in reality, they just didn’t
really make an effort.

                The
moral of this short anecdote is that we have to find a way to look past the
fear and insecurity that holds us back so that we can walk through the door
instead of staring through the window. 

                Admittedly
there are some huge difference between finding a t-shirt that fits or that
perfect pair of jeans and publishing for your first time. When you publish for
the first time it is the first time your writing is going to be made available
in a format that is accessible to the general public. It is like a first
impression and as the old adage says, “First impressions are everything.”  So now that we’ve established that we all
have good reason to be absolutely terrified to publish our writing, how do we
overcome this?

                I
think this warrants some detailed discussion, so next week I think we’ll touch
on this more. But one of the most important things I like to think about when I’m
considering publishing or making something I’ve done available to the public is
Trust. It’s simple and maybe not worth mentioning for everyone, but think about
whether or not you trust yourself. Do you trust your ability as an artist and
writer? Do you trust the people you have let read and edit your book? Do you trust
that what you have to say could be worth something to another person (even just
one!)?

I hope you answered
YES to all of these questions. And if not, why not? As a writer you have to be
able to stand behind your writing. You have to be able to stand behind your
message, and most importantly, you have to be able to trust that what you have
to say has value. This is not only an important concept for being successful in
publishing but in your career as a writer. So I’ll say again: Trust that you
have something valuable to contribute. You were given a gift and a passion for
writing, so embrace it. It’s amazing how quickly some of the feelings of doubt,
fear, or insecurity start to dissipate once you have reached this conclusion
for yourself.

It’s easy to be
afraid or to shun a confident attitude. In the literary arts we have all heard the
stories of rejection and despair that comes along with our profession — hell,
they’ve even made movies out of the real clincher — but you have to trust that
these are the dramatized exceptions, not the rule. Even if you don’t get
published right away or don’t sell a lot of your first book, it is only the people
who lose faith in themselves or don’t trust themselves enough to take the big chances
as writers who truly fail.