I had such a lovely morning today.
I woke up with that deeply smug feeling you get after 9 hours of sleep, and glided around the house, drinking my coffee and catching up with my sister.
It was beautifully sunny outside, with a gentle breeze off the Atlantic rustling the trees overhead.
So, fortunately, I was in a good mood when I realised that the book I’ve been working on all year really needs another solid rewrite to make it the kind of book that readers will be obsessed with for the rest of their lives.
(Nothing like a lofty goal to keep you motivated, right?)
While it’s tough to stomach in the moment, realising that you need to try again is a huge opportunity.
I always think that it’s the universe popping in, like, “Hiiii just double-checking you really want this? You sure?”
It takes some grit and humility and a certain dark humour to keep trying again and again and again, sometimes for years, in order to get what you want.
But it’s in the trying that we become who we need to be, in order to handle the outcome we’re asking for.
I’m going to need to be very good at creating a strong, secure space for my readers to explore their inner worlds, and that takes resilience and focus and endurance. Those skills are what this book is teaching me, every time it asks for an upgrade.
All creative work is demanding.
Whether it’s painting or dancing or writing for your own private purposes, The Gap between your taste and your ability will test your patience longer than you might care to acknowledge.
It will ask you, again and again, to study more, practice more, dig deeper, look closer — and that’s the gift of creative work.
That’s what makes creative people so alive, so purposeful and ultimately so fulfilled.
It’s because we keep showing up, we keep trying again, evolving our way along until we get to where we most desire to be.
So don’t be afraid of the rewrite, or the repetition.
Try again, and again, and eventually, the universe will see that you’re serious. And at that point, you better hold on, because everything you asked for is coming your way.