Recently, I heard about someone who liked to write, but didn’t want anyone to read what they wrote. At first, that may sound silly, but then I realized that just writing for writing’s sake is a great thing. Many things that I have written have been greatly beneficial to me.
Writing in a journal or diary is a great way of collecting your own thoughts. It helps you examine yourself closely, and lets you release your feelings onto the page, where you can interact with them and understand them. I sometimes look back on my entries into a prayer journal and it is amazing to see how I have grown and changed over the years.
It is also a good intellectual exercise to write down stories and fiction, like the person I heard about, but it is so hard to let others read them sometimes. One’s writing can be such a personal involvement that it feels like baring your own soul to let someone else read it. And if it is read and edited, or criticized, it can feel like a personal attack!
As an author, I have worked past that fear, and become much more thick skinned about my writing. If you want your work to be published, you need to realize that a good pruning will let it come to life in a healthier version. I went through nearly twelve drafts before Finding Paradise was finalized! But I am pleased with how my “baby” grew, and has gone out into life on its own!
To anyone who likes to write, I say – keep it up! Learn and grow and write to your own satisfaction, or be brave and share your work with others. The world will be a better place in some corner because of your writing, either in your own heart, or shared with others.