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Letting others read your writing is terrifying.
Good writing is authentic and vulnerable. It emotes. It gives the reader a backstage pass into the mind of the author. For most beginning writers, that’s a terrifying thought. Not many folks get backstage passes. That’s sacred ground.
Letting others read your writing is also an act of trust.
Good writing is clear and logical. It expresses a single point that’s often unpopular or controversial. Typically, it’s the best argument a writer has to offer. It isn’t natural to show the world your best and ask for feedback and scrutiny. You need to trust the world to respond with maturity.
So when a writer shares a piece of work with an audience, they have these thoughts and feelings. They’re terrified, they’re exposed, they’re vulnerable. They’re desperate for feedback, hoping for the best, and bracing for the worst. It’s a complicated set of emotions, mixing together like an anxious little plate of spaghetti.
But here’s the punchline: letting others read your writing doesn’t mean they will.
A piece of writing is a piece of content. It’s competing with Tweets, Snaps, Emails, and Reels for a sliver of attention. Capturing attention means writing well - writing something that stands out amidst a never-ending cascade of short-form media1.
And doing that is rare. Most writing doesn’t accomplish that.
So for the anxious writer who’s worried about how they’ll be received: odds are, you’re not good enough to be disliked. Disliking your work means taking time to read it, and people don’t focus on things unless they’re worth consuming. For the beginning writer, your work is the worst it will ever be. You have yet to receive the bits of feedback from readers that’ll eventually catapult you into excellence.
To put it more succinctly: people probably aren’t paying much attention to you. Yet.
So treat that as a bit of freedom, and publish everything you can. Write and ship, ask for feedback, then refine and write some more. People simply aren’t paying attention to the bad stuff. It’s a weird asymmetry - a naturally occurring filter. Use it to your advantage.
Happy writing, folks.
Dave Perell’s mini-essay The Never-Ending Now hits on this well.
Spot on! I’ve always said that writing is almost always an ephemeral experience for the reader. Your goal as a writer is to eventually make something that isn’t and creates a little permanent home in someone’s brain.
Love the message and the extra content in the footnote!