Have fun!

Some writers feel a bit of trepidation when creating or publishing a story. In fact, almost all writers experience such trepidation, even those who have published best-sellers. The same questions always arise – “What if it’s not any good?”, “What if no one like it?”, “Hasn’t this story already been told before by better writers than me?”

The list of concerns and questions can be endless.

Here are a few points that every writer must recognize:

• Your story will not be perfect. No creative work is ever perfect. Crystals are perfect. They are also monotonous. Math is perfect. Math can be extremely useful, but no one ever decided to spend their vacation reading a math book. You are creating something new and different, and it will have flaws. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be human and you wouldn’t be creating something that can be meaningful and engaging.
• No one is expecting a story listed as “Draft” to be the finest story they’ve ever read. For that matter, all stories in this category are assumed to be at some level of needing refinement. Everyone reading a Draft story is trying to help you decide if the premise is worth developing further, what things work and which things need improvements, and hopefully providing encouragement.
• You’ll never become a great writer without getting feedback. You can’t get the detailed feedback you need until you’ve moved beyond a story concept and actually published something concrete.
• You are not your story. Your importance lies in how you were created, not in how well you craft your stories. Never take criticism of your story personally. All writers create good to great works of art and not good to lousy attempts that didn’t work out. Separate yourself from your story, especially since you have an enormous multitude of stories still waiting to be created, enhanced, published, and sometimes just discarded. No one, absolutely no one, is going to judge you based on how well one of your stories reads (or how many stories that create and then discard).

The process of creating stories and publishing them should be fun! Get over your fears and insecurities and write. You’re not getting a grade. You’re not competing for a prize. You’re not getting promoted or demoted based on your story. Create stories because you have ideas and creativity.

Scribble down your idea for a story, mess around with the plot development and characters and dialogue. Try out different approaches and see which ones resonate. Then get it published and enjoy the satisfaction of accomplishment. Then do it all over again. Some day you may be “serious” and “thought-provoking” and have critics dissect your works, but not today. Today, just have fun with the whole process.