Birth Is Easier Once It Happens

It felt like I birthed a baby. Although at 69 that would be somewhat of a miracle. 

The anticipation, the anxiety, the apprehension of putting something out there in front of the masses is an experience unlike any you have undergone.

People may laugh at your work.
People may make fun of your work.
People may not like your work.

For all that and more, most of us are not willing to put ourselves out in the open for others to view.

I know that’s how I felt when I had my first craft show. I mean — what are Angel Tears? Why would I want one? They’re homemade, not precisely crafted by a machine. The stone is a little off here, a little off there. 

Yet….

I birthed yet another fruit of my loins (so to speak) last Monday.

Put a book out there for people to download. For free. Something that had been percolating in various stages of embryonic development for 20 years.

Yes, 20 years.

I have written a lot more books since Corn and Shadows, but none like the first. The biggest hurdle has been jumped over, or, in my case, climbed over with a ladder and landing pads.

Isn’t that how your creativity goes?

Isn’t there something about your first creation that holds a special place in your heart?

Maybe it wasn’t your best work. Maybe it was rough at the edges or painted a little darkly or the stitches weren’t quite even.

But it was the first. Your first baby. And letting it go out into the world was a tough experience for you. Wasn’t it?

But if it wasn’t for that first release, that first foray into worlds not yours, for eyes not yours, emotions not yours, you would never have moved on to create what you do today.

For some, once is enough. For one reason or another, Vincent Van Gogh only sold one painting during his lifetime. Margaret Mitchell only wrote one book.

For others, hundreds of paintings or books or ceramic pieces aren’t enough.

But for me, Corn and Shadows was a start.

Don’t be afraid to share your work with the world. People just want to feel you, know you, through your work. Just another phase of taking one step out of the door. It is frightening and nerve wracking.

But it is also the most liberating feeling you will ever get from your own true self.