The Worst That Could Happen
You have a draft. You have worked on it, laboured over it. You are ready to take your work
to the next level, you’re ready to take the next step, you’re ready to move forward. That
means rewrites and that means getting feedback.
And yet you don’t take action. You’re afraid of getting feedback. You’re afraid to let go of
your work and hear what people think. What if they hate your writing? No one wants to hear that the piece they’ve worked on, laboured over, is no good.
But you must. It’s necessary. Your work will not move forward without rewrites and part of
the rewrite process is getting feedback. Feedback acts as a small window into how your
writing will impact an eventual audience. This is valuable information.
One way to defuse your fear is to take it to the extreme. What is the worst thing that could
happen? Imagine it. Visualize it. Verbalize it. Get every fear out of your head and on to the
page. Write them down, make a video, draw a picture, create a collage. Write a scene
between you and the person tearing your work apart. Create your fears as the absolute
worst experience you can imagine. By doing so, you will guarantee that the worst will never
happen. It can’t.
And now you know the worst, and you know that it can’t possibly happen, get your work out there. Let go of your fear. The worst is off the table and that means the only feedback you’ll receive is information that will make your work the best it can be.
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