To Blog or Not To Blog?

A very wise woman I know recently wrote a blog about this very subject. My writing a blog actually goes against her advice, because she worries that young writers will put too much thought and effort into a blog instead of getting published. I agree with her advice, even; yet here I am still typing away.

The truth is I finished a novel around Christmas of 2009. It's sitting on my laptop, a thumb drive, and in a binder. I can't bring myself to send it off. I'm a very confident person, but for some reason my novel still gathers the literal and digital dust.

I started blogging partly for that very reason. I need to get used to the idea that anyone can (and hopefully will) read my work, and they can choose to like it or not. This blog is a writing exercise for me in confidence and risk taking.

It's not because I'm scared of criticism. I work in an industry that's full of it, and I have tough leathery skin to protect myself. For me, the nerves are jumbled because I'm exposing something that I've always kept private: my writing. I was published twice in school mags: one I had to be talked into submitting, the other my teacher did so without asking.

I have the commitment and follow through to finish the writing part of being an author, but I don't quite have the guts for it yet. Even now, 10 posts later I still close one eye when I push the publish button.

My favorite position to publish a post.