Write Like No One’s Watching

Typos Welcome, Inhibitions Not

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There is a peculiar kind of freedom in doing something when no one else is paying attention.

It’s the same freedom a child feels while drawing dragons on the back of a math worksheet, or humming songs in the shower with no regard for pitch.

In those moments, there’s no pressure to perform, no fear of judgment — only pure, unfiltered self-expression.

Writing, I’ve come to realize, can and should feel like that too. Write like no one’s watching. Because that’s when the most honest, transformative, and courageous writing happens.

For years, I wrote with an invisible audience looming over my shoulder.

I worried about how my words would be received, whether my sentences were smart enough, poetic enough, liked enough.

I curated my thoughts like a museum exhibit, careful not to display anything too raw, too confusing, too real.

It was exhausting. And worse — it was empty. Somewhere in that performance, I lost the joy that brought me to writing in the first place.

Then I came across this quote by novelist Anne Lamott:

“Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere.”