Why you don't (necessarily) need to publish your writing

With the surge of writing platforms like Vocal or Medium, suddenly everyone wants to write. Everyone can become a writer, and tips and tricks to write better flooding all over the internet.

The goal of writing promoted by the writing platform is, of course, to publish our writing. The slogan that said "everyone can write" convinces us that we should write. It said, no excuse to not write! Then, it would be better to publish your writing.

But do we really need to publish our writing? What if I tell you that you don't necessarily need to publish your writing? However, I don't mean to discourage you from writing. If any, this will help you to write more. How?

The truth is, sometimes hitting a publish button feels dreadful (or in this platform, Vocal, is to click submit for review to have our writing published). There are expectations--both consciously or unconsciously, internally or externally--that come from our decision to click publish. Will people read my post? Is it good enough? What if no one read my post? The list can go on and on. At some point, this can make us worry too much. This has become (one of many) reasons for me not to write. I avoided writing because I'm afraid to hit publish; even if I haven't jotted a word. This is because I thought that the purpose of writing is to publish it. With this in mind, I unconsciously write less and feel less motivated.

However, we are pretty much aware that the purpose of writing is more than hitting the publish button. Or to sell a book. After all, there are no rules on writing. Ok, maybe a grammatical rules here and there, but when it comes to the purpose of writing, no one actually has the authority to tell you what to do with your writing. Of course, there might be a monetary incentive if we publish our writing, but in the end, it is in our control to decide whether we want to make money from our writing or not. In the end, we are the ones who have control over what to do with our writing. If we want to publish our post, that's great, but if we want to keep our writing for ourselves, that is fine, too. For example, we know what to do in our journal (ok, diary). We don't mean to publish our private entries worldwide because we decide to keep them personal. And that can be applied to our non-diary writing.

"Then I read Writing as a Way of Healing by Louise DeSalvo which validated the belief I had held for so long that you could write simply because you wanted to write—because you felt pulled to do it—even if you had no aspirations to publish."

The Power of Writing It Down - Allison Fallon

The perks of not publishing our writing

If we don't publish, you might think, isn't that mean our work will be useless? It will become a total waste! What's the point of writing an article, or book, if we don't want to publish it? Don't worry, that's what we will dig into.

1. Writing will feel more fun and enjoyable

Well, first and most of all, what we write is not going to be a total waste. Even more, by not expecting ourselves to publish our work, somehow writing will be more enjoyable.

By dropping the shoulds, the oughts, and musts, writing will feel easier. This is especially helpful if we write for a hobby or as a means of creative expression. There are no rules to follow. When we work beyond rules, limitations, or expectations, we will feel free. And isn't that fun, to do express ourselves freely?

2. We will get inspired from our own writing

Our private writing will become an archive that we can revisit one day to get more insight and more ideas. There is a possibility that we can publish another piece based on the old writing that we've made before.

Also, we can always get inspired by our writing whether it's been published or not.

The more we write and keep our writing, the more we will be inspired, and the more we will write again!

3. It strengthens our writing skills

I think this is pretty obvious. The key to mastering a skill is to train it. So, by making ourselves write, again and again without thinking to publish it, we are always in a process of training and learning. Not only we will strengthen our skills, but also we will strengthen our habits.

4. It gives us confidence and motivation to write again

Having unpublished writing is way better than having no writing at all. Because having some piece of writing is like giving ourselves some confidence that "whoa, turns out I can write!". It's the same with every skill we do in everyday lives; we will not know we can cook before we actually go to the kitchen, or we will be more able to drive when we drive more. When practicing more, the more confident we are with our skill and ultimately the more confident we are with ourselves.

5. We will give ourselves an unexpected gift in the future

Sometimes we just need an aha moment to hit publish. When that moment came, what would be better than already having a piece to publish? A moment and then, whoosh...! You hit publish in a second. You will think, thankfully I have a stack of writing beforehand! It's like preparing yourself a gift for the future.

So, just write!

We can just write for the sake to enjoy the writing. Don't let the dreadful feeling of publishing your work hinder you to write. Because we can control our worry and expectations. So, we can decide on what to do with our writing. In the end, we can decide to make writing fun and enjoyable!