Late last night, I had a young, aspiring writer reach out to me with a long, meandering note.

It's much too long to share here. But, it can be summed up in the following question...

"How much should I share?"

He told me that he wanted to write the way I write but that he was concerned with how it might impact the way people view him and the way those close to him view him and so he asked how much he should share and, in turn, not share.

I wrote him back the following...

"A***, the short answer is that you don't become a writer to be well-liked. You become a writer to tell the truth; your truth."

Let's place a pin in that, just for a moment.

Rewind to several weeks back when I was having a cocktail in New York with a client of mine.

He's the Chief Marking Officer at one of the fastest-growing B2B enterprises on the planet and he's made a career creating marketing that scares the hell out of his CEOs (but makes his them a lot of money).

Towards the end of the evening, he asked me...

"Would you say you're a nice guy?"

I was quiet, for a moment, until I found the words I was looking for...

"No. I wouldn't say that I am a nice guy. But, I'm real. People generally know where they stand with me, for better or for worse."

I think it is a very basic (and natural) human desire to want to be well-liked. Nobody wakes up in the morning with the intention of being hated.

(After all, there was a time in history not all that long ago that not being liked could result in your exile from the tribe and, as a result, your eventual death...)

However, when we begin placing too much focus on being well-liked, or well-perceived or "nice", it can prevent us from 1). being our truest, most authentic selves and 2). doing ambitious work that challenges what has been done before.

And so, if you're getting into writing to be well-liked, I think it's worthwhile to explore another profession.

Because you don't become a writer to be well-liked. You become a writer to tell the truth; your truth.

And, truth be told, the truth isn't always nice.

But, I digress.