I can see how it must have felt impossible to narrow down these quotes. They’re all wonderful! It reminds me of when I read The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. I was highlighting everything! 😂
I absolutely understand this fear and vulnerability you describe. It’s downright terrifying in the beginning, and maybe never goes away completely?? Or maybe I haven’t been writing long enough? Every time I hit “publish” I need to sort of hide for a little while to refuel. Still, the only thing worse is not hitting “publish” at all. We creatives are a funny bunch, aren’t we?😊
Hah! Yes, selecting quotes is impossible sometimes. I recently picked up a copy of The Artist's Way, and I'm looking forward to reading it. I've done morning pages for a while, but I never actually read the book, only that excerpt.
I'm wondering if you write long enough or build a big enough audience if you stop caring as much? For now, I feel the same way as you: I need to hide and refuel after hitting publish! A funny bunch indeed 😂
Jacob, it's great to see you facing your fears. You are not alone. Comparison with others and the feeling of imposter syndrome are realities we all face. We may or may not be the next Steinbeck, but if we never start writing, we simply won't know. Glad to have you here.
Thanks Matthew. I'm hoping by acknowledging these feelings and facing the fear, I can get to the point where I'm just focusing on the writing and building a community here on Substack.
This is going to sound so cliché, but I thought I was the only one who felt the way you describe. I believed I was lesser-than as a creative writer because I did not take any creative writing courses in college and did not pursue an MFA. I actually started blogging in the early 2000s (posting poetry online) in order to receive feedback from faceless strangers on the Internet. Then, writing for my masters and doctoral degree was difficult, but doable because it was so formulaic. It actually took me a full year to be able to read and write creatively for myself again.
I can’t wait to pick up a copy of Art & Fear. Thanks for this great book recommendation! I look forward to many more issues of dad‘s bookshelf.
Adrian, it's comforting to know you've had a similar experience. To your point, the writing for the MA and doctorate are indeed difficult but formulaic; it's more a matter of just doing the work and meeting the expectations of a very specific audience (your committee, folks in your field, etc.)—at least in my experience, anyway. It also took me a long time before I could read and write creatively for myself, probably about two years or so after receiving the PhD.
Thanks as always for your support and kind words. If you pick up the book, please let me know what you think of it! In the meantime, I hope the quotes here will suffice.
Ahh, this is so relatable and inspiring! It’s comforting to know so many go through this. Thank you for sharing your experience and the wonderful quotes from Art & Fear.
Thank you Jenn! It means a lot to me that you found this relatable and inspiring. I hope the quotes from Art & Fear help inspire your work 😊. Thank you again for being here and commenting—so appreciated! 🙏🏻
Oh my word, I identify so much with what you've written here
I also wanted to create art, and even tried. But my thoughts were scrambled. I assume that the sedation you speak of was responsible for that. My sedatives were manyfold... Alcohol, Drugs, Parties, but also just a straight up refusal to engage with myself or anything real. You just can't write if you're in denial, don't you think?
Your Art & Fear was my Letters to a Young Poet, a reading assignment at university that made no impact on me whatsoever. I bought it again about six months ago and it has become a treasured companion to my writing, pulled off the shelf at regular intervals.
Thank you for sharing! I agree that you can't write if you're in denial—at least not anything that's honest. Isn't it funny how you can completely ignore a book but suddenly rediscover it years later? And it has a major impact on your life or your art? I'm happy to know I'm not alone in this experience. I've never read Letters to a Young Poet—I'll have to check it out! Thanks again for commenting 😊
Hi Jacob! I’m glad I found your Substack. I really appreciate your vulnerability and honesty about the writing process. I also have a son on the autism spectrum who is amazing. He’s 12 and just did a wonderful project on stars ⭐️ for his school’s STEM Fair. Proud mama moment. I hope you will not be offended, but I wonder if you might have ADHD based on your early educational experiences. You sound so much like my late husband who went undiagnosed until his 30s. Receiving a diagnosis really changed his life although it couldn’t erase a lot of the negative messaging he internalized as a teenager. Anyway, I write about all the crazy sh*t I did while grieving the first year after my husband died in August 2021. I’m doing it scared too, throwing spaghetti on the wall and seeing what sticks.
Hi Amy! So glad you’re here! 😊It’s always nice to connect with other parents.
It sounds like a very proud mama moment indeed! My babies are so little, and I’m looking forward to watching them grow and hopefully attending a few school fairs to see their projects as well! It sounds like your son is thriving.
Regarding the ADHD, no offense taken! You’re not the first to suggest it as you might suspect given my educational record. I’ll be writing about it at some point, so stay tuned!
I’m looking forward to reading your work! It takes a lot of courage to explore loss and grief in a public setting, so I applaud you for that. Thank you for sharing with us!
Thanks for the welcome. I just wanted to add that I think grades are stupid, academic records are rubbish and homework is useless (just my personal opinions). What I’ve learned from my son is that “the mainstream” isn’t so great and certainly nothing to aspire to. Enjoy your little ones! Their most valuable education is play, as I believe it is for all of us.
Thanks Amy! I’m all for more play and less formal evaluation—for all of us! My son is teaching me more about this every day and so is his sister. Such a gift. Thanks again for being here and commenting!
Hi Jesse! Thank you! I’m happy to hear the book resonates with you at this current moment in your writing journey. I’m still figuring out the fear/vulnerability stuff too. I’ve been working on a post that I was hoping to publish tonight or tomorrow, and I’m already doubting myself and rethinking posting it. As I mention in this video/post, that’s when I come back to this book and its advice. I’m hoping more experience writing for a public audience will help me get over my fears. Anyway. Thanks again! Looking forward to reading your work!
Hi Jacob- Thanks for this note. Yeah, I'm definitely getting a little stuck in my head. I had originally started the newsletter to force myself to write articles/book chapters. Now, I'm doing the newsletter more for itself, to push my own limits, and connect, and test different writing out; its it's own thing. Which eventually introduced the whole 'write what you fear' element... How much to reveal? Will they think I'm crazy? Will people think I've crossed a line? All the typical stuff :) Looking forward to reading more.
Yes! Exactly! What’s the line when it comes to “write what you fear”? I wonder that myself. What’s great is that the folks I’ve encountered on Substack so far are very supportive, so it’s the perfect environment to accomplish exactly what you’ve set out to do: push limits, explore, and test new forms of writing. It may be a scary place to be, but at least it’s an exciting one, too! And, I think, it’s ultimately a fulfilling and rewarding one as well. Time will tell for all of us, I suppose, if the juice is indeed worth the squeezing. Here’s to fearless writing!
Thank you Tinashe! I always enjoy reading your work, so I’m happy to see you liked the post! As I’ve said to others in the comments, if you end up reading the book, let me know what you think!
Me too, Jack! That’s how I feel. I think writing this post really clarified for me that I’m okay waiting to get to those unread books when the time is right. No need to rush!
As a potter who now is trying to also write, your ending sentence applies to me both literally and metaphorically 🤣. Will save this to read again, there is so much to digest. I'm glad I came across your Substack.
I can see how it must have felt impossible to narrow down these quotes. They’re all wonderful! It reminds me of when I read The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. I was highlighting everything! 😂
I absolutely understand this fear and vulnerability you describe. It’s downright terrifying in the beginning, and maybe never goes away completely?? Or maybe I haven’t been writing long enough? Every time I hit “publish” I need to sort of hide for a little while to refuel. Still, the only thing worse is not hitting “publish” at all. We creatives are a funny bunch, aren’t we?😊
Hah! Yes, selecting quotes is impossible sometimes. I recently picked up a copy of The Artist's Way, and I'm looking forward to reading it. I've done morning pages for a while, but I never actually read the book, only that excerpt.
I'm wondering if you write long enough or build a big enough audience if you stop caring as much? For now, I feel the same way as you: I need to hide and refuel after hitting publish! A funny bunch indeed 😂
Thanks as always for the support and kind words!
Jacob, it's great to see you facing your fears. You are not alone. Comparison with others and the feeling of imposter syndrome are realities we all face. We may or may not be the next Steinbeck, but if we never start writing, we simply won't know. Glad to have you here.
Thanks Matthew. I'm hoping by acknowledging these feelings and facing the fear, I can get to the point where I'm just focusing on the writing and building a community here on Substack.
This is going to sound so cliché, but I thought I was the only one who felt the way you describe. I believed I was lesser-than as a creative writer because I did not take any creative writing courses in college and did not pursue an MFA. I actually started blogging in the early 2000s (posting poetry online) in order to receive feedback from faceless strangers on the Internet. Then, writing for my masters and doctoral degree was difficult, but doable because it was so formulaic. It actually took me a full year to be able to read and write creatively for myself again.
I can’t wait to pick up a copy of Art & Fear. Thanks for this great book recommendation! I look forward to many more issues of dad‘s bookshelf.
Adrian, it's comforting to know you've had a similar experience. To your point, the writing for the MA and doctorate are indeed difficult but formulaic; it's more a matter of just doing the work and meeting the expectations of a very specific audience (your committee, folks in your field, etc.)—at least in my experience, anyway. It also took me a long time before I could read and write creatively for myself, probably about two years or so after receiving the PhD.
Thanks as always for your support and kind words. If you pick up the book, please let me know what you think of it! In the meantime, I hope the quotes here will suffice.
Ahh, this is so relatable and inspiring! It’s comforting to know so many go through this. Thank you for sharing your experience and the wonderful quotes from Art & Fear.
Thank you Jenn! It means a lot to me that you found this relatable and inspiring. I hope the quotes from Art & Fear help inspire your work 😊. Thank you again for being here and commenting—so appreciated! 🙏🏻
Oh my word, I identify so much with what you've written here
I also wanted to create art, and even tried. But my thoughts were scrambled. I assume that the sedation you speak of was responsible for that. My sedatives were manyfold... Alcohol, Drugs, Parties, but also just a straight up refusal to engage with myself or anything real. You just can't write if you're in denial, don't you think?
Your Art & Fear was my Letters to a Young Poet, a reading assignment at university that made no impact on me whatsoever. I bought it again about six months ago and it has become a treasured companion to my writing, pulled off the shelf at regular intervals.
Thank you for sharing! I agree that you can't write if you're in denial—at least not anything that's honest. Isn't it funny how you can completely ignore a book but suddenly rediscover it years later? And it has a major impact on your life or your art? I'm happy to know I'm not alone in this experience. I've never read Letters to a Young Poet—I'll have to check it out! Thanks again for commenting 😊
Hi Jacob! I’m glad I found your Substack. I really appreciate your vulnerability and honesty about the writing process. I also have a son on the autism spectrum who is amazing. He’s 12 and just did a wonderful project on stars ⭐️ for his school’s STEM Fair. Proud mama moment. I hope you will not be offended, but I wonder if you might have ADHD based on your early educational experiences. You sound so much like my late husband who went undiagnosed until his 30s. Receiving a diagnosis really changed his life although it couldn’t erase a lot of the negative messaging he internalized as a teenager. Anyway, I write about all the crazy sh*t I did while grieving the first year after my husband died in August 2021. I’m doing it scared too, throwing spaghetti on the wall and seeing what sticks.
Hi Amy! So glad you’re here! 😊It’s always nice to connect with other parents.
It sounds like a very proud mama moment indeed! My babies are so little, and I’m looking forward to watching them grow and hopefully attending a few school fairs to see their projects as well! It sounds like your son is thriving.
Regarding the ADHD, no offense taken! You’re not the first to suggest it as you might suspect given my educational record. I’ll be writing about it at some point, so stay tuned!
I’m looking forward to reading your work! It takes a lot of courage to explore loss and grief in a public setting, so I applaud you for that. Thank you for sharing with us!
Thanks for the welcome. I just wanted to add that I think grades are stupid, academic records are rubbish and homework is useless (just my personal opinions). What I’ve learned from my son is that “the mainstream” isn’t so great and certainly nothing to aspire to. Enjoy your little ones! Their most valuable education is play, as I believe it is for all of us.
Thanks Amy! I’m all for more play and less formal evaluation—for all of us! My son is teaching me more about this every day and so is his sister. Such a gift. Thanks again for being here and commenting!
Thanks for this post and book recommendation. Currently grappling with getting over that fear/vulnerability hump in my writing and this helps.
Hi Jesse! Thank you! I’m happy to hear the book resonates with you at this current moment in your writing journey. I’m still figuring out the fear/vulnerability stuff too. I’ve been working on a post that I was hoping to publish tonight or tomorrow, and I’m already doubting myself and rethinking posting it. As I mention in this video/post, that’s when I come back to this book and its advice. I’m hoping more experience writing for a public audience will help me get over my fears. Anyway. Thanks again! Looking forward to reading your work!
Hi Jacob- Thanks for this note. Yeah, I'm definitely getting a little stuck in my head. I had originally started the newsletter to force myself to write articles/book chapters. Now, I'm doing the newsletter more for itself, to push my own limits, and connect, and test different writing out; its it's own thing. Which eventually introduced the whole 'write what you fear' element... How much to reveal? Will they think I'm crazy? Will people think I've crossed a line? All the typical stuff :) Looking forward to reading more.
Yes! Exactly! What’s the line when it comes to “write what you fear”? I wonder that myself. What’s great is that the folks I’ve encountered on Substack so far are very supportive, so it’s the perfect environment to accomplish exactly what you’ve set out to do: push limits, explore, and test new forms of writing. It may be a scary place to be, but at least it’s an exciting one, too! And, I think, it’s ultimately a fulfilling and rewarding one as well. Time will tell for all of us, I suppose, if the juice is indeed worth the squeezing. Here’s to fearless writing!
This is great, I enjoyed the video commentary and the article.
I will get a copy of the book, the article is clear and concise detailing your Substack journey.
Thank you Tinashe! I always enjoy reading your work, so I’m happy to see you liked the post! As I’ve said to others in the comments, if you end up reading the book, let me know what you think!
Have bookmarked this for later Jacob as I have a stack of writings to mark.😉
Hah! I know exactly how that goes! Hope you enjoy the post when you get the time to read it! 😊
I’ve read about 10-15% of my bookshelf and I still keep adding to it. I’ll get round to most of them some day and I’m content with that.
Me too, Jack! That’s how I feel. I think writing this post really clarified for me that I’m okay waiting to get to those unread books when the time is right. No need to rush!
now i really want to read that book!! i really enjoyed reading this post.
Thanks leyla! I'm so happy to hear you enjoyed it! 😊 If you end up reading it, let me know what you think!
As a potter who now is trying to also write, your ending sentence applies to me both literally and metaphorically 🤣. Will save this to read again, there is so much to digest. I'm glad I came across your Substack.