It’s scary to start a writing project. But you know what’s even scarier? Finishing it.

To finish means to publish and to put your work out there in the world for others to judge and critique. The thought of people judging your work is just too much for some writers to handle. So, they accumulate lots of half-finished books, articles, projects, and other content that takes up space on a hard drive or in a desk drawer.

Sometimes we think that being a writer means to be constantly gaining new ideas and exploring creative possibilities — which is true. Those things are important. But those ideas and possibilities must live somewhere. They need an outlet.

Here is a challenge that will help you develop confidence and momentum: finish something and publish it. Be done with it. Set it out into the world to help readers, no matter how many or how few.

Neil Gaiman said, “You have to finish things — that’s what you learn from, you learn by finishing things.” Maybe you have always seen yourself as a person who never finishes. But you can change that perception by taking back control of your writing life and finishing the darn thing.

You can change how you see yourself and how you talk to yourself. Lots of people start but far fewer actually finish. Be part of that elite group and finish what you’ve started.