Judge and jury

 "I went for years not finishing anything. Because, of course, when you finish something you can be judged."

You can't finish what you never really start, right? That has always been my approach with personal writing. Sure, I write in a journal and a blog, but that is just random stories and observations, nothing real. I have created outlines - even using notecards - for longer pieces on specific experiences or aspects of life, but nothing actually written and really only I know they exist. I have a lot of stories written over the years, I'll reread some of them from time to time and they always take me back to a place and time, but that is just for me and actually cringe a lot of times and judge myself. I made the decision last year to push forward and actually show my writing to others, but then the pandemic (yeah, just what I needed, another excuse) hit and all outlets were shut off. I stumbled upon the Creative Non Fiction site a couple years later and finally clicked the button to participate in an online class. I had no clue what to expect, but the feedback has been great to receive and all of the writing from fellow classmates has been impressive.