24 Comments

Loved this, spoke to the soul.

But to challenge the dislike point – whilst scary, it would also bring a whole flurry of people who would LOVE you. What would that do to the overall dynamic of what you wrote and how you feel?

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Thanks Claire. I…dunno! Haha! The fear is real!

Nah I know what you mean. The cool thing is (which seems inevitable now but wasn't obvious to me before) was that in sharing a fearful post like this, several people including you have reached out and said encouraging things. Maybe I'll lean into it

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I hear ya! Channel your inner Susan Jeffers ;)

In all seriousness, it’s a hard one to wrangle. I’m writing a piece about getting fired 12 years ago and honestly, until about 2 weeks ago I’d be shaking at the thought of talking about it.

I’m not surprised people resonated with it – we see what mirrors back how we’re feeling ourselves most of the time.

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Yeah and we just want to see how others feel and how they dealt with things.

I will take the lessons from this. I'll also not do it too much ;)

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Harrison, your writing is much changed since WOP back in 2023. Fresh observations. Tight, yet satisfyingly flowy. Increasingly real.

Your fears are my fears, plus this: what could I, an educated white guy living in the West today (even a gay one), possibly have to say that is much different than anyone else who has witnessed the same years, consumed the same content, visited the same off-the-beaten path destinations, learned the same lessons and processed all of above with like-minded friends at similar cafes, eating similar pastries, sipping the same cup of coffee? Something merely incremental at best. Or, so I fear.

But hey, look at that, I pressed the blue “send” arrow button, despite myself. Cheers!

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I've missed you Andrew! Something you said to me last year really helped me have a mostly fab 2024 so yes I just wanted to say that having seen your name for the first time in a while 🥰

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Hi Sarah, and a Happy New Year to you! Thank you for the sweet shout out! I can’t imagine what i might have said, but am very glad it helped your 2024. I went quiet around February but had a great year. Three weeks spent back home in the UK, a visiting sister, lots of productive home organizing and an impromptu pet-fostering gig. I hope you are well and have been happy reading your posts. If I can get/stay focussed, I hope to write more this year.

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Hey, thanks Andrew. And thanks for the astute reminder. I like that you phrased it as a question. That was much more effective than if you’d just told me something

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Genius. Thank you to your heart for persevering through the committee of fears in your head, and being a role model for us all.

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That was a nice message to read, James, thank you!

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Brilliant! I have a huge love hate relationship with editing and hadnt actually thought about that as consciously as I am now thanks to your words 🥰

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Thanks Sarah, so glad it helped. Curious—which parts of editing do you love?

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I love that it makes you think about clarity, making sure there is a thesis/core point, and that I'm not waffling too much and accidentally trying to write about more than one key topic in a piece and confusing messaging... But the hate bit comes when I get overly critical in whether or not I can shave words off the remaining paras and sentences, without losing meaning but losing my personal voice!

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I totally hear ya Sarah, it’s a real struggle to strike the right balance. I’m tempted to think that it’s better not to arrive at a perfect balance in one piece, but to have a little less editing than we feel is needed. It saves us time, retains more of the original energy of the piece, and relives us of the urge to be perfect.

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"Fear of saying something that will make me disliked." Too real, but there's no nothing we can post without someone finding a way to be offended by it these days...

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Gah I know, I know, it's scary indeed 🙃

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I kid you not - I saw one of my haters (whom I wanted to kill with my kindness) - he just goes around and hate on people’s posts. Lol.

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Gosh that sounds awful. I haven't come across anybody quite that bad on Substack yet

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Hy. I like your article and I feel the same as you, fear and doubts. Your writing is excellent. Thank you for sharing.

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Thank you Maria xx

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…such a good secret to writing…if it is in you then let it out…including the FEAR but also the SHAME the SADNESS the EMBARRASSMENT the FAILURE…write what you know until you know something else…

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Yessssssssss! Maybe I will 🙃

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This is so true.

Is this maybe why writers like Bruce Robinson ( withnail), write with a bottle of red on their desk? To get the courage.

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Hey Corinna! Yes I have to admit that (regrettably) I’ve had some good experiences with alcohol squashing fear and throwing open the creative floodgates. It can work well for me, but only for a 20-30-minute window during the first drink. After that, it stops being helpful

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