To publish or not to publish, that is the question
I am new to creativity.
I thrive on being given tasks to accomplish and feel gifted with words when provided with a clear purpose. I used to enjoy writing college essays: connecting the dots and building the blocks in order to make a salient point.
I like to be given a handful of material to put together like Lego bricks — you still get to be creative, but you know your boundaries well.
Being given a free hand is something most people desire, but once you are faced with a blank canvas, freedom feels more like a confinement than the actual borders of precisely-defined tasks. What do I write about? Who do I write for? To publish or not to publish?
You both ask and answer these questions — there is no one else asking you to create your little piece of art.
Maybe that is how you should approach it. Writing, as any other means of expressing oneself, can truly be considered as art. It has its rules, and yet we are free to play within and out of their boundaries.
Here on Medium, the answer to all the previously mentioned questions is painfully simple and complex at the same time. I write for myself, but I also write for my audience, whoever that may be.
I have decided to publish this small piece of my mind even though it is not a big, coherent chunk of a text which commands its audience to follow a well-studied thesis. I am used to giving out thorough examinations, so to me, short and personal writing is a new channel of creativity in need of being developed.
Although it is not a grand masterpiece of insight, and has been written in one very short sitting, this text has value to me as it reflects on the new boundaries of my experience. Art is not only about making it to the best of galleries or tailoring to the audience’s needs. Sometimes, breakthrough happens once you dare to make something different from what you are used to making.
Don’t always follow the recipe in wait for a ‘perfect’ piece. Keep producing and challenging yourself.
If your work feels right to you, then it already has some value, regardless of how appreciated it would be by a wide audience.
Let yourself be heard.
