Writing is Not Publishing

This seems intuitive and self-explanatory. But yeah, I’m going to unpack it anyway.

Writing is manifesting my thoughts by putting ink to paper. Or pixels onto the screen. It is a means of bringing the intangible into the material world.

Moving thoughts from one realm to the other.

And this is an important exercise. Writing helps me to sort out my thoughts and have that inner conversation, developing my voice in the process. It also brings a little more structure into my thinking. And rationale.

But it isn’t publishing.

I realized today that I’ve actually been doing a lot of writing. I just haven’t shared much of it.

Publishing is sharing. It’s the next – and big – step towards building an honest sense of confidence.

Publishing is also vulnerability.
And that’s why it is hard.

How will I respond to feedback?

It’s easy to be a legend in my own mind. But risking open critique is extremely difficult. Until it’s not.

That is when publishing becomes the catalyst for growth.