I write a lot. My habit is to write something, anything, every day. Sometimes it’s good, I have day when I even like what I have written. Mostly I look back at my writing and think of things I should have or could have done differently. Sometimes writing is a duty, and I’m just finishing it for the paycheck. Writing for money doesn’t mean it’s bad work – it just means I’m not as attached to it. It’s not work that comes from my heart, and it’s usually not work that reaches the heart of the issues I write about.

When the best writing days happen, it’s because the words I come up with are the ones that get directly into the heart of the subject. Instead of skimming the edges, my writing digs into the core.

When the writing reaches the heart of the matter, it resonates with people. The most read piece on this blog, The Person I Don’t Want To Be, was one of those. I said exactly what I was feeling, and people responded positively to that. I will admit that I got the usual shit from readers who didn’t understand or who felt I was being unnecessarily sarcastic and/or profane (but rest assured, if while in my presence, you run directly towards a fully-grown female brown bear with cubs, I will knock you on your ass).

A lot of the time it feels like my blog posts or writing-for-hire goes directly into a cosmic gap where it’s seen by few and matters to even fewer. And yet, somehow, I can still be over here, doing my thing. The point is that I can’t worry about what happens to the work after I finish it.  

What happens after the work is finished and released into the world is someone else’s problem. Whether someone likes me and my work or thinks I’m a pretentious (or pedantic) asshole reflects less on me and more on them. As readers, whether or not we “like” someone’s work has little to do with the work and much to do with the way that we relate to the work.

For me, understanding that one concept made the difference between writing things that would never see the light of day to writing things that are regularly published, sometimes by paying clients. It’s not to say that I don’t care that someone may not like my work. It’s just not the be-all and end-all for me anymore. I no longer lose sleep because someone doesn’t like what I have to say.

I know that from a business standpoint, I should be worried about page views and getting people to sign up for my blog updates. And yet, if I worry about that, I won’t be writing. Worse yet, I would be thinking about what everyone would think so much that soon I wouldn’t be able to write.

So, whether or not my words are the equivalent of screaming into a black hole, I’m going to write them. It’s not worth being concerned with what someone else will think. It doesn’t matter if my best friend or mother or landlord sees me completely differently after reading my work.

My most important goal when I write is to express myself. On the best days, it works. I can find the words that say what I think and what I feel. I can share what I know about creative work – and I know a lot about it, since I’ve devoted myself to living a creative live for years. I can, to paraphrase The Rolling Stones, spill my heart onto the page.

For me, that makes the difference between good work and bad. Having my heart in it creates good work. Using my brain too much creates mediocre work. And just tossing words into a document for a paycheck or SEO rankings makes for shit work. I’m not bothered by producing shit when the customer is happy – but I need to produce the work that matters to me so that I am happy. And that means writing with my heart.