How Publishing My Work Makes Me A More Powerful Writer
By: Alice Vuong
Tags: Creativity, Personal Development, Self, Inspiration, Writing

When I just started my writing journey, I used to be really scared to hit publish. I would sit on my articles and stories for days and when I worked up the courage to actually publish the damn thing, my heart would be racing and I would get butterflies in the pit of my stomach.

I’m not a courageous person. I wish I could be a little bit braver especially when it comes to putting my work out there. But since I’ve started my writing journey, I’ve published over 150 articles. Whether you’re a seasoned writer who’s published over 1,000 or a new writer trying to will up the courage to publish your first story, there is power in hitting publish and sending your work out into the world.

You gain a little more confidence each time

I had very little confidence as a writer and I still do. I go through dips and peaks as a writer. But since I’ve started publishing my stories, the dips don’t last as long and I can make my way up that hill a lot faster than I used to.

Even though I’m not making a full-time income (or even a part-time income) off my writing, I don’t doubt myself as a writer anymore. Publishing my stories have given me the confidence and courage I needed to keep writing.

Writing takes confidence and bravery. It’s risky to put your work out there and share personal moments and thoughts with the world but in doing so, you cultivate your confidence in your ability to change the world through your writing with every published piece.

It allows you to move forward in your writing journey

I can write my heart out and have a hundred drafts (actually I probably do) but until I hit publish on one of my creations, I don’t feel accomplished. And until I feel like I’ve accomplished one task, I can’t move on to the next.

Publishing our work allows us to move on.

Having unfinished or even complete works of art sitting in our space holds us back in our creative endeavors because we keep coming back to those pieces. An unpublished story is the equivalent of unfinished business in that we can’t put it out of our minds and let it go. Hitting publish allows you to let go.

You stop caring what others think

If you write long enough and publish your work often enough, you will quickly learn that people are not afraid to share their opinions about you through the guise of the Internet.

You will also quickly learn that the opinion of others doesn’t matter as much as you think.

Most of the responses I get on my stories are very encouraging but there will always be haters and trolls who feel the need to voice their dislike for my perspective on my personal experiences or my take on the world. Unless they offer some sort of constructive criticism (which most trolls don’t), their negativity used to bother and anger me. Since I’ve started publishing my stories, my need to appease others have diminished and I’ve stopped caring (to an extent) about what people think about me or my writing.

There’s true power and freedom in not caring about the opinion of others, as a writer and as a human being.

Publishing forces you to give up your perfectionist tendencies

Perfectionism is the killer of dreams.

We often see perfectionism as a strength rather than a weakness but perfectionism is simply a mask to hide the fear and doubts we have as writers.

If I waited and tried to make my stories perfect before publishing them, they would all still be sitting in my drafts folder. Our writing can never be perfect because perfection is subjective. The idea of a perfect story rests in the reader’s mind. One person’s “perfect” is another person’s “not good enough”.

Publishing my stories over and over has taught me that my writing will never be perfect. And I’m okay with that. After all, I’m human and humans will never be perfect. Since I am the creator of my stories, I shouldn’t expect my writing to be perfect either.

Your realize the world doesn’t end if nobody likes your work

The world doesn’t end if nobody reads my work or if they read it and hate it. I am still here, writing away. We have such angst and fear over making our stories available for the world to read. We cannot guarantee that our writing will change other people’s lives but it will change our own.

You become a little braver, a tiny bit more courageous and confident, more authentic. And that’s what we need in this world — something that can make us more of those things.

That’s the true power of publishing.