The best time to experiment and try new things are when people don’t know you.

If you don’t have a reputation, how can you break it?

This was a lesson I failed to learn as a beginning writer, where I thought everything I wrote had to be solid gold or nobody would ever read me again. The fear was so ingrained, I was even imagining people calling me up and knocking down my door to tell me how awful I was.

Talk about an inflated sense of self!

Think about the last time you were trying to find something to listen to (online or on the radio). If you came across a song you didn’t like, you moved on. At no point did you decide you hated the song so much you would look-up the artist and make a note to never listen to a thing from them again. The only time that ever happens is when an artist becomes so popular (because they were liked by enough people to make them so) and others decide to criticize.

When it comes to our own work, we should keep that lesson in mind.

If people don’t like it, they move on. They forget you, allowing you to keep trying new ideas.

You try enough ideas that people like and your popularity then rises.

Until then, have fun and don’t worry about the outcome.

*Note: Popularity and fame are two different ideas in my lexicon. People become famous for all sorts of reasons.