Barb Caffrey's Blog

Folks, I figured this week’s post should be about something we all need.

Is it optimism? Well, optimism never hurts, but while I believe optimism is helpful in the main, it’s not going to get you to sit down and write or create (not by itself, anyway).

Is it faith in yourself and your ideas? Well, again, this does not hurt and can only help.

But when you have much faith in yourself, and you’re not sure your ideas will ever matter, what do you do then?

What I try to do is to take a step back, see the big picture, and realize that while I can’t control the market (or the court of public opinion, either, truth be told), I can control what I do.

I know that for myself, creating something new is absolutely essential. Whether it’s in music or words (no matter what type of words, either, as sometimes a poem can say more in two short pages than a novel can in hundreds), cooking something different, or just being willing to experiment a bit to learn a new skill (how I learned latch-hooking, years ago, and needlepoint, much less how to make an oboe reed and/or finish off a clarinet or saxophone reed) can help me keep going.

Life, you see, is as much about learning as it is about anything else. That includes learning new things about yourself, your talents, and the uses for same.

So, when I lack optimism, I tell myself that I’ve done creative work before and will do it again.

When I worry that I don’t have enough faith in my ideas, I put that to the side and keep going anyway.

Persist, persist, persist. That’s my motto.

It should be yours, too.