HOME | DD

Description
I've been sharing far more snippets of works-in-progress since last year, and each time that I do so there are moments of angonising doubt. While I always state that I write for myself first and foremost, I'm trying to build up an audience, and to do that means that people need to be reading my stuff and hopefully enjoy what they are reading.

Launching a completed piece out into the public always has me anxious - because I am sharing something that is a part of me. I'm putting myself out there to have my work scrutinised, picked apart etc. Not everyone will like what I create, not everyone will get it, and if you are like me and have crippling anxiety at the best of time, it can really test you sharing your work with anyone other than the family pet.
But I find sharing snippets of a draft can be even more daunting, because for most of us drafts are not polished, they are incomplete and may not even be as coherent as we had hoped. I don't feel the need to share everything I'm working on but I often want to give others a peek behind the scenes and so I share snippets from time-to-time. Sharing a draft opens me up to even more scrutiny and increases the doubts that I already have. I've found most snippets that I have shared have been well received, although some pieces slip by unnoticed into the void, but there is always that feeling that maybe people are just being kind.
Being a writer for me is about embracing my vulnerability, especially where my poetry is concerned. I love writing, even on the days when getting one word out is like passing blood, but on my bad days it can feed the doubts. I've exposed my vulnerable side in the past and have been met with ridicule, derision and scorn, so sharing my drafts sets off my anxiety in a major way, and can even trigger flashbacks. But still I find myself sharing snippets of what I'm working on with others. Maybe there will come a time when I'm a little less anxious, or maybe like stage fright it'll always be there and I just have to push past it. For now though I try to block out the doubts, and the voices from the past, and share what I'm working on with others.

Description
I've been sharing far more snippets of works-in-progress since last year, and each time that I do so there are moments of angonising doubt. While I always state that I write for myself first and foremost, I'm trying to build up an audience, and to do that means that people need to be reading my stuff and hopefully enjoy what they are reading.

Launching a completed piece out into the public always has me anxious - because I am sharing something that is a part of me. I'm putting myself out there to have my work scrutinised, picked apart etc. Not everyone will like what I create, not everyone will get it, and if you are like me and have crippling anxiety at the best of time, it can really test you sharing your work with anyone other than the family pet.
But I find sharing snippets of a draft can be even more daunting, because for most of us drafts are not polished, they are incomplete and may not even be as coherent as we had hoped. I don't feel the need to share everything I'm working on but I often want to give others a peek behind the scenes and so I share snippets from time-to-time. Sharing a draft opens me up to even more scrutiny and increases the doubts that I already have. I've found most snippets that I have shared have been well received, although some pieces slip by unnoticed into the void, but there is always that feeling that maybe people are just being kind.
Being a writer for me is about embracing my vulnerability, especially where my poetry is concerned. I love writing, even on the days when getting one word out is like passing blood, but on my bad days it can feed the doubts. I've exposed my vulnerable side in the past and have been met with ridicule, derision and scorn, so sharing my drafts sets off my anxiety in a major way, and can even trigger flashbacks. But still I find myself sharing snippets of what I'm working on with others. Maybe there will come a time when I'm a little less anxious, or maybe like stage fright it'll always be there and I just have to push past it. For now though I try to block out the doubts, and the voices from the past, and share what I'm working on with others.