It’s fun to hit send. There’s a sort of thrill behind it; something enjoyable about pushing the button after all the time spent, mixed with a little bit of fear. “What if it’s not good enough?” “What if it could be better?” The answer to the second question is almost always yes. Whether that means major changes or getting rid of a comma, it could always be better. So the life of a writer is learning to accept that fact and hitting send anyway.

If you’re still anxious about what you hit send on, here’s a question that might make you more anxious: was “perfecting” it worth all that time? Say you spend a whole day on a single sentence. Your readers might not even notice that sentence. And they certainly won’t realize or appreciate how long you spent on the sentence. Then again, if a writer writes only so they’ll be appreciated, that writer has a bigger problem.

Small detour: Tyler, the Creator dropped a new album in July. Usually, I have to wait a year or two before another album, but instead the guy just hits send and we get a new EP. No advertising, no long waits; it was a July 19th announcement and a July 21st release. And who’s complaining? No one. Don’t Tap the Glass is great; not super deep, and Tyler makes that known from the opening lines. It’s a dance album. In an interview for Hot 97, Tyler talks about how not hitting send on that project means artists will “create their own handcuffs.”

The nonfiction piece I wrote, “I Started To Want It,” took me two and a half sittings. I say “half” because I remember typing away at my laptop, hitting a certain point, and thinking: “Oh, I’m done.” I was surprised. Usually it takes longer, usually this stuff keeps me up late at night, and sometimes I’d stop and put it on the digital shelf. But everything clicked into place, so I did the right thing and I hit send. There were “imperfections,” let’s say. Typos, unfinished sentences, and accidentally leaving my name in. But I hit send anyway because that’s what I wanted to do. And that act of impulse runs parallel to the piece: not knowing exactly what’s going on or where you’re going. I wrote the thing to try figuring out what I “wanted,” and after a few scattered stories I found it. I went back and made edits, sure, but the truth is the thing happened to flow. And when you reach that feeling of flow, that spontaneous state, the worst thing you can do is shelf it. Otherwise it rots.

Sometimes, though, it’s not bad to “shelf” something. Or maybe the better analogy is to put it in the fridge or the freezer. Ah forget that. Just save everything you work on. Never delete a thing. Sometimes I think of an idea, but I wasn’t sure where to start or wasn’t it the right mood. I thought of “The 3/4 Man” in the fall of 2023. I had the basic premise/vision but neither the know-how or the will to get it started. But I came back to it recently, and everything clicked into place. That’s what it’s really all about: the moment things “click.” And when it clicks, you step on the gas until it’s done.

These blogs actually help me practice this virtue of hitting send. So forgive the typos if there are any, lol. Or maybe that was the point: to make it seem like this took me a half hour when it actually took me half a year. (Either way, us authors get to take the credit.) Anyway, I partly mean for these blogs to become time capsules, not just for curious readers but mainly for myself. One day, maybe I’ll need to remind myself of something or even to take my own advice. So, old me, listen up: stop being a coward and hit send.