Writer’s Corner: The Humiliations of Writing

Writing and publishing any piece of work, from novel to Facebook postto letter to the editor complaining about your neighbor’s cats, is a way of putting yourself out there for the world to see. So it stands to reason that there’s a large potential downside. Sure, there’s the (remote) possibility of fameandwealth, oreven the occasional social media like. But more likely, and certainly more frightening, is the chance for embarrassment.

(Library of Congress, c.1872)

In his essay, “Writing is a Ris...