My Own Worst Critic
In writing entries on here, there have been times when I spent 30 minutes writing, refining, and editing a single article that I thought would offer my readers insight, and would get them talking to me. Often, when I do that, I hear nothing.
Other times, I'm up at 2 in the morning, sleep deprived, and I'll pound out an entry in a few minutes based on a fleeting thought. And surprisingly, there have been times when those quick scribblings have gotten a positive reaction from readers.
The truth is, we're generally very bad at separating our own wheat from our chaff. We ignore bad ideas for fear that they won't be well-received and focus on good ones in the hopes they'll be revered. We guess, and we use our best judgment, but too often, we guess wrong.
If you have three ideas for novels, three songs you'd like to write, or three paintings you want to paint, don't pick the best one and spend a lot of time refining it. Do all three. Release them into the wild, and let the market pick the best one.
Other times, I'm up at 2 in the morning, sleep deprived, and I'll pound out an entry in a few minutes based on a fleeting thought. And surprisingly, there have been times when those quick scribblings have gotten a positive reaction from readers.
The truth is, we're generally very bad at separating our own wheat from our chaff. We ignore bad ideas for fear that they won't be well-received and focus on good ones in the hopes they'll be revered. We guess, and we use our best judgment, but too often, we guess wrong.
If you have three ideas for novels, three songs you'd like to write, or three paintings you want to paint, don't pick the best one and spend a lot of time refining it. Do all three. Release them into the wild, and let the market pick the best one.