‘I Am So Extremely Embarrassed by My Entire Life!’

Humiliation is a hazard of writing. The payoff is learning not to hide who you are.

Jane Reed and Dora Hunt (1941) by Clarence Holbrook Carter

Dear Polly,

I am so extremely embarrassed by my entire life, and I’m worried that I will spend the rest of my life hiding myself from the world because I hate feeling vulnerable. 

I’ve been writing since I was a child, and I never minded when people read what I wrote. I loved my writing and I was p…