Writing; The Hardest Thing

Reading The Best Thing I Learned From a BA in Creative Writing … it wasn’t a writing habit I just learned something about writing, about myself. It was this:

No, the best thing I learned during my bachelor’s programme was how to let others read my work and judge it.

We writers can take things a little bit personally sometimes. We are often willing to fight for our choices right down to the letter, and sometimes that fight is justified. For a lot of the fights though, other people’s voices should be listened to. 90% of the time edits on our work make them better.

When younger, I hated other people reading my stuff. I thought it was crap and their compliments mere kindness. Getting arrested, making an ass of myself, left me thinking my writing could not embarrass nearly as much as what I had done to myself. Which is not to be taken as advice for any aspiring writers reading this post. Quite the opposite. Although thanks to Joel Cartiglia for helping me through the process of gett is ng me comfortable with others reading my work. Yes, the hardest part of writing is others reading your stories.

The prison writers group also helped with this. I put an ad on Muncie's Craig's List about a local writer's group. No response, so far.

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3/12/22