I’ve always wanted to live on an island – it wouldn’t even have to be a tropical one. Wow! Nice to meet you!

Congratulations, Michael! There’s quite a spectrum of writers here, and for those of us who aren’t quite so close to publishing of any sort yet, it’s exciting to be among you and others here who have published or are close to being a published author.

I’m not too far behind you in age, Kate, so let’s say agree between us that it’s not too late!

All of the above? Actually, the primary reason I’m here is to get more comfortable with sharing. I’ve been writing for years, but other than the fact that I’m regularly sharing it with my father (who doesn’t count, since he’s co-writing with me), and have shared a very early draft of that work with some family members (who don’t exactly have the critical eye that’s needed), I’ve shared very little of what I’ve written.

Now partly, I’m just terrified to share, like most other writers. But it’s not so much the fear of feedback that I’m struggling with or that keeps me from sharing. Sure, I’ll bristle a bit (maybe even a lot, at times) when someone critiques what I’ve written, but I know that getting feedback from others is crucial to improving my writing. The problem for me is the distraction of sharing, especially at this point in my writing life. I’m committed to finishing this writing project and just finding the time to work on it proves to be challenging. When I decide to throw in things like this course, I get completely “off course” with that project. Over the long term, that project may be all the better for it, but in the short term I not only feel guilty for the time not spent working on it, but I also literally get behind on it (and this is a project that has already taken much longer than I ever expected – years, actually).

[You see, unfortunately for me, I’m a terribly slow writer. Writing Exercise 1—an assignment that some of you may have gotten down on the page in the one sitting recommended—took me hours. Literally. And we have two more exercises in this unit alone. Yikes!]

So when I look at all the ways in which I might share, I quickly become overwhelmed. I can’t imagine trying to sustain a blog. Just writing one good post a week would absorb the better part of what little writing time I have.

All that said, in the end, I know I need to share more (as the start of this course has made all the more apparent, so thank you for the interesting ideas around story, Joe!). I guess I’m hoping that by course end, I’ll have a plan in place for how I might share more, while still working towards finishing my core writing project.