In the gap between hope and fear
There is practice.
I started writing with a six-word mantra, “My hope is stronger than my fear.” I used it to get myself sat down and writing. A call to action, light at the end of the tunnel.
Meachman wrote, “Hope looks forward to the horizon. Fear points at others, assigning blame.” For a while, I felt I needed — more hope than fear. A creative quest to write a book versus rejection, despair, or fear of failure.
What changed?
There is no switch on or off. It’s not like, there is no longer, hope or fear, only practice; it’s simply that you get to a point, where you learn to work without the need for applause. You write because it’s useful for you, and if it’s useful for someone else, then you feel hope, just as you feel fear when no one reads your shit.
All that happens as far as I can tell, is that in the end, you get better at returning to your practice.
