"Ship it. Put something out there, anything. Don’t wait; move something forward.
You don’t need to know everything, just the next step. If it’s a big project, you don’t have to finish the whole thing; just finish part of it. But for crying out loud, do something."
Oh how I adore this advice! It can be so hard to get started - doing anything, really- but once you get rolling, it's a wonderful road. No matter what road you're on.
Old habits are hard to break; new ones are tough to start. It takes a little practice and patience, but it's worth it. Whatever you're looking to do - it's best to just do it.
If you remember nothing else from this blog post, please remember what Jeff so wisely said, because I've seen it work over and over again - you don't need to know everything, just the next step.
We often don't begin (anything) because we want to know "this" is going to work out the way we want it to. (whatever our "this" is). We want to know how the story (literally or figuratively) is going to end. Will our gym workouts helps us shed the unwanted 25 pounds? Will all the time invested in my writing turn profitable and eventually get me somewhere besides here? Will the interview I am about to go on produce a job offer?
We can't know the end. We must begin anyway.
When it comes to writing, I've shipped a few things - blog posts, query letters, picture book manuscripts, and most recently an unsolicited letter to a famous author asking if they need help in their writing empire. (I'll let you know how well that one works out for me if it ever does.)
The more you do it, the easier and more fun it becomes. Just take that first step. Get creative. Think of it like an invitation list to a party - if you want twenty to attend, you're going to need to invite at least fifty or sixty. Your first opportunity might not come through so go on to number two. Just don't quit! Ship a lot. Be bold! Don't hold back. You have nothing to lose and a lot you could possibly gain.
Choose yourself, get out there, and ship it!
I like what you got out of this challenge, it is interesting what we all 'hear' in his writing. My thoughts were a bit different.
ReplyDeleteGreat job... keep it up.
Thanks so much- thanks for stopping by and reading!
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