"100% of the shots you don't take"
or Why Take Inspiration from Alice Munro…
When I feel shy or trepidatious about putting myself out there, I think of Alice Munro.
If you’re not familiar, Alice Munro is a Canadian short story writer. Residing, for the most part, in a tiny rural town, her stories were regularly published in the New Yorker, she’s written 14 collections of stories and won umpteen awards including the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2013.
* I LOVE HER WRITING. Here’s a link to a whole bunch of her stories – masterclasses for writers – which you can read online for FREE. Enjoy. *
It occurred to me that her stories didn’t end up in the New Yorker because she hid them away in a drawer, but because she put them in the mail. She dared to put them out there.
As a result, her ideas made their way into the public consciousness and had a huge impact on readers and she “revolutionized the architecture of short stories” (Source). She also didn’t publish her first collection of stories until she was 37.
All of this is a precursor for what’s on my mind today… I want to encourage you to take inspiration from Alice Munro and share your work.
I do believe some initial time in the cave, learning, honing and developing, is necessary, but don’t stay there too long.
There is great value in sharing your work, whether you’re testing out early ideas, in the midst of development and scratching new chunks (which I wrote about here) or sharing a final product.
Wherever you’re at in the creative process, here are ...
7 tips to help you brave sharing your work
When it comes to asking people to hear your work as you develop it, DON’T. BE. SHY. People like to be asked for their help and insight. If they’re too busy they’ll tell you or won’t respond. But always ask. And don’t take it personally if they say no or if you’re met with silence. Just keep going. Cast a wide net.
When you share your work, you not only strengthen the work itself, you broaden your circle. You’re building buzz around the project and your confidence. When it comes time to share the final product you’ll feel great and be met with an audience.
When you bring collaborators in early on in the process, you create more cohesive work with a more invested team. WIN-WIN.
For performing artists and writers reading their work aloud, IMHO, the best and most useful feedback is, not what anyone says to you after you share your work, but the real-time reaction from the audience while you’re sharing it. This can only be gleaned via actually doing.
As hockey great, Wayne Gretzky, says "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." When putting yourself out there means sending emails and making calls, THE WORST that can happen is nothing, which is the same as what’s happening by not putting yourself out there. The more you risk, the more you increase your chances of a reward.
If you, like me are a perfectionist, and get spooked by sharing “less than ready” work, set up safeguards: only share it with people you really trust, be clear about what kind of feedback you are interested in and prepare as well as you can. You can be scared and brave it anyway.
Confidence is built THROUGH practice – networking, asking for what you want, writing funding applications are all arts adjacent skills that only improve through PRACTICAL APPLICATION – practice! Trial and error. Head back to the drawing board, adjust your approach based on your learnings and try again.
“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter.
Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” - Beckett
I look forward to hearing about how you’re putting yourself out there and sharing your work these days.