You know that old saying, “Mutton dressed as lamb?” Well, today I want to share some good news with you that at first might look like bad news.

There are creative pitfalls all along the journey from first inkling to finished product. There are dozens of moments when you can go off track, get stuck, or stop altogether.

I know this, I’ve experienced it many times, and yet I’m still surprised when I hit a roadblock and find myself not doing the very thing I tell myself I want to do. It takes gentleness and clarity and a firm hand to get myself going again.

I have written a novel and I’m getting ready to self-publish it. It’s amazing to have gotten this far, but I’m not at the finish line yet. There are more decisions to make, more inner hurdles to clear.

For many people, it’s the actual writing that seems impossible. How do you fill up all those pages? I felt like that, too, before I wrote my 375-page dissertation and learned that writing all those pages means just writing two or three pages each day. To be honest, not even each day. But if you do this most days, you wind up with a huge stack of pages and they give you a Ph.D. Magic!

For me, now that I know how to sit down to write each day (or not, as I just confessed), the writing itself is a pleasure. It’s the next steps that can trip me up. There are so many decisions to make and always at the back of my mind is the gnawing fear that this thing I’ve made – this book which holds so much of my love and philosophy – will be laughed at or ignored. And guess what? It probably will suffer both fates, even as it is appreciated and embraced by others. And guess what else? I have learned that I can handle it, whatever happens.

I have been working with a wonderful artist in Ukraine who is designing the cover. For a few weeks, she has needed specific things from me, including the text for the back cover. I have fretted and stewed about this. I have told myself the lie that I can write it quickly as one task among many in the day. I have promised to get to it once other more pressing things were done. I have faffed about and wasted several days.

What was that really about?

Fear, plain and simple. Fear that I will do it wrong and that will hurt my book and cause me terrible regret. Fear that I will get hurt, too.

What helped?

I looked at other back covers and saw the variety of approaches. Some back covers were not nearly as inviting as the book itself turned out to be. There wasn’t a standard or a formula to learn. There was simply a sincere attempt to describe the book. That lowered the pressure.

And then yesterday I made a decision that by three o’clock I would send this important piece to the designer. I wrote, crossed out, paced, had a better idea, wrangled and wrestled, got stuck, had aha’s, tried again, and didn’t stop. That’s really the key: not stopping until it’s done to your satisfaction and not making your satisfaction into an impossible goal. It’s the divine “good enough” that keeps things moving.

So back to the good news.

Once you face a fear, you unleash a whopping dose of energy. Pride. Hope. Spirit. You have moved forward. While this task or step might always be challenging, you will always know that it can be done.

I think that’s one of the greatest gifts of following the creative process from start to finish: you gain just enough confidence to keep going. And yes, keeping going means more opportunities and greater possibilities. But mainly it adds up to a life of doing your thing, being the person you want to be, whether other people give it a thumbs up or not (Here’s to you, Emily D and John Keats who wrote even so!).

The reward for courage is courage.

The reward for keeping going is more challenges, more growth, and more fun.

I call that good news!

PS – That’s Filly in the picture who pulled down the “toys” strung up over the art table and is innocent enough to have displayed them for me without guile or shame when I came downstairs this morning. I love that about him!