"You think you’re all strong and silent, bro,
but you’re a book with its spine cracked open
and its pages falling free."
- Martin Amis, House of Meetings
For a few job interviews I've had recently, I've been asked about my long term goals and I've been telling them that I want to be published. And that is so sadly true, that my goal is to publish at least one book. Why is my goal not larger? Because I have come to realization that if I'm so afraid of even letting my friends and family read my work than how am I going to let an editor or publisher read it?
I really need to get better about my confidence in my writing. But its hard when I know people who write so terribly and post their so-called poetry all the time. They post it on Tumblr with typos. How can I compete when my competitors are confident enough to post poetry on the internet that has TYPOS?
So maybe I will never have the confidence in my writing to become a published author, but at least I won't post poetry with a misspelled title?
To anyone who reads this blog, how do you find the confidence to do the things you love?
Embrace the power of anonymity. Use a pen name. Allow the work to be judged on its own merits, and see if what you like about your writing is shared by people reading it. You'll still get the rush of anxiety when you make the post and breathlessly await criticism, but nothing gets easier if you haven't done the hard thing for the first time.
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