Giving It Your All

Giving It Your All

There are two episodes of two entirely different TV shows that always make me cry. I don’t know why. Maybe they invoke something in me that I don’t know about. Maybe they’re just damn good.

 

But I love the writers and actors for “going there”. It’s that extra mile, whatever they have done. They went there. They weaved their writerly magic while throwing their inhibitions to the wind, but they also did so with care. And not many do.

 

Giving It Your All

 

And this applies to writing online too. Don’t pause before you hit publish on that raw post.

 

Just go for it.

 

Because as much as it is cathartic to write these things down and get them out, in the end it’s probably not about you. It’s about what it will mean to someone else. Because you have readers. It doesn’t matter if it’s two readers or two thousand readers. And if you touch one person, make them feel not alone, make them understand the way something is, then it’s worth it.

 

What post have you struggled to hit publish on? What was the response like? Did you feel better for giving it your all?

 

11 Replies to “Giving It Your All”

  1. I agree that raw posts while initially difficult to publish are actually the ones that resonate more with readers and well, help you realise there are others out there who are going through something similar or been through it before. I have in the past 12 months been a lot more open about sharing these flaws and imperfections online and one post I shared was after a break up in Dec and the hurt I felt. It was cathartic for me and it also helped me hear of others who had been there and felt that.

    1. Vanessa Smith says: Reply

      There’s definitely something to a shared experience, maybe it just lets you see others at different stages of pain and things so it helps to remind you that you do get over things with time.

  2. I’m often praised for my honesty in my writing, and it is my best most favouritist complement ever. I agree with you that we are trying to connect with each other and this is done through the sharing of our emotional experiences. Behind all our closed doors it is hard to believe that you are not alone. It is so easy to feel that there is no one that feels like this. I love been able to connect through my raw heartfelt post that I cry through the writing.

    1. Vanessa Smith says: Reply

      Keep up the good work then 🙂

  3. I’m normally pretty eager to press post and have to force myself not to and leave it so I can come back and edit, because I ALWAYS find mistakes and even then I still post with errors. Sigh. But good advice, it can be a hard one for some people.

    1. Vanessa Smith says: Reply

      I am the worst editor ever. I barely even proof read posts before pressing publish. It’s highly unprofessional of me 🙂 But once I’ve written it, I just feel done with it and don’t want to re-read it!

  4. Right now I have very raw post and I think I might just write it because of you – YAY! x

    1. Vanessa Smith says: Reply

      Yay you!

  5. I wrote a post towards the end of last year about how there are some moments, especially in the early days of having a newborn, that I sometimes thought “I wish I wasn’t a Mum”. It’s not that I would in any way ever wish my kids away, but sometimes in the hard moments/days, that thought rises unbidden. It’s not something that many ever admit to themself that they have thought, let along publishing it in a blog post for all the world to read. I posted a link to that post on my FB page again recently and had a new Mum thank me for writing it because it made her feel not so alone or lke a bad Mum for struggling and thinking not so nice things sometimes. That made it totally worth it.

    1. Vanessa Smith says: Reply

      Sometimes it’s just adapting to the change – it’s not that the change was bad necessarily, just a big one!

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