Before You Think About Publishing, Read This

Writing comes first.

I don’t care if you are new to writing, or been doing it for decades like I have, it’s helpful to remember that writing and publishing are different things. And they require different things from us.

There’s no point in talking about your chances of getting published if you haven’t written anything. If you haven’t finished the thing.

Even then, you’ll need to decide how much publishing matters.

I’m glad my work has appeared in books and magazines. For me, it’s both a job and a calling—so publishing is satisfying, and I need the check.

But I need to write even more. So let’s start there.

It’s easy to focus on the gatekeepers, the odds, the industry. The reasons why we think most people don’t get published. But we forget, most people don’t write. They don’t practice. Or learn the craft. They don’t persist.

Where Does It Fit?

How much time have you given to the writing?

What place do you want it to have in your life?
Do you write when you aren’t inspired?
When you’re tired, lonely, happy, busy?

Do you write when the doubts creep in and there are errands to run?
When it’s bad and nobody cares?

When you aren’t sure if you’ll ever finish, or if the work will ever be any good.

Do you write when you don’t know what the outcome will be?

I started thinking about this after I read a study that indicated most people don’t.

Researchers found that people often won’t even try if a win feels unlikely.

Even when there is no cost to enter, even when it requires no money, no time, no resources to participate, people won’t do it, if they are unlikely to win.

Think about this: If you don’t show up, you have zero chance of, well, anything. It’s an absolute no. Some chance is better than no chance.

That’s what happens with writing.