Looking at a blank page, it’s easy to believe nothing I do will be very good or measure up to what I’ve done in the past. Yet most things I’ve done in the past started with a similar blank page, while I experienced similar feelings of anxiety.
Waiting to feel good about what I create has rarely made the work good. But starting has.
An idea rarely feel great when I begin. Most ideas are barely an idea when I begin. It’s an hour or two later when I look back on what’s been created that I feel satisfaction and enjoyment with the work. (And if the work is good, I’ve generally forgotten all about “me” at some point in the effort).
Telling myself I was inspired when I started is usually a lie, and a dangerous one. Most work I do starts in uncertainty and trepidation. But picking up the pen or pencil and starting to write, or draw lines on the page is how that trepidation begins to take same and solidify into the Work.
The question isn’t; “Can I think of anything good to create.” It’s; “Once I start, what will I fall in love with?”
—
Here’s an update on the incomplete drawing from Monday. The progress is in the bicycle which has been a little better defined, and is now blue. “Slow and steady wins the race;” my second grade teacher used to say.
timmyr.com 