Today we have more choices among types of media than ever before, and the Internet means that we can share our creative work faster and faster. That even goes for works that aren’t in an electronic form to begin with. You can photograph your painting and upload it in a flash instead of waiting for a buyer to spot it in a gallery. You can record your song and let people download it. Even something as archaic as a smoke signal can be filmed and posted on your web page, and it’s as easy as using your phone to do it.

But what happens if the process is interrupted? Maybe you never hit “send” on that email message. You might put the painting in the attic and put a blanket over it, or even build a fire in a valley, so the smoke signals never get seen by anyone. What’s the worst thing that can happen if your message is never received? I’ll tell you: nothing. While probably nothing too terrible can happen as the result of keeping your work hidden, nothing great can happen to you either.

There is at least one significant case of potential medias interruptus that was luckily averted . Stephen King thought his original manuscript of Carrie was no good, and he threw it in the trash. His wife Tabitha fortunately found it, and encouraged him to revise it into what became his first published novel. King and his family were struggling financially at the time. Carrie ended up selling one million paperback copies in its first year and catapulted him to worldwide fame as a writer. What would have happened if Carrie had never been seen? What if the novel responsible for Stephen King’s career had been carted off in the trash?

We often read about books, poems, or screenplays being discovered in the desk drawers of writers, books that end up being posthumously published. Sometimes they are paintings instead of written works, stashed away in a moldering attic. In some cases, the works that come to light after the death of their creator are shockingly good. The public has to wonder: why was this hidden away? What made the artist think it was not worth bringing to light?

It can only be because he or she questioned it –found flaws that no one else could perceive, or that possibly didn’t even exist. Because of their reservations, they never got to know how much those hidden works meant to those who later enjoyed and admired them.

While the people we’re talking about enjoyed success in their life, what about those that have not yet “made it?” What about you? Do you have a story, painting, song –an idea of any kind– that is rotting away in a desk drawer, or even worse, still inside your head? Get it out. Put pen to paper. Send an email. Show someone. Who knows what may happen once you share it.

I can guarantee what will happen if you don’t. Nothing.

by Elizabeth Kelly

Have an idea bursting to get out or opinions on the creative process in general? Comment here, or better yet: join the Oozil forum and let’s start talking.