Don't Let Your Ideas Die With You

What if I fail? What if my writing is boring and nobody is interested in reading it? Or worse, what if people read my ideas and laugh?

I've heard dozens of writers and wannabe writers ask various versions of these questions, all oblivious to the irrelevance of what they were asking.

Your internal hangups about failure, and your worries about being embarrassed have nothing to do with the quality of your writing or of your ideas. Nothing.

What good are your ideas if you refuse to share them? Don't lose the opportunity to expose your ideas to a broad range of readers for fear of a little criticism or embarrassment. And please remember, the simple act of regularly completing articles, poems, short stories, or any kind of writing and putting those works out there is exactly what helps you improve your craft.

It has never been easier to put your work out into the public domain, and there are several blogging platforms, from WordPress to Blogger to Tumbler to LiveJournal, that are free and laughably easy to use.

Sure, go ahead, worry about looking dumb or being embarrassed. Hide your ideas. Gradually, they'll fade away and disappear. They'll be forgotten. And so will you.

Seriously, what kind of doofus would choose that option?

Don't let your ideas die with you. Put them out there, come what may.

I'd like to extend a grateful thank you to Irene Kehler at Loving Vancouver for inspiring this post.