What if you followed your creative intuition wherever it led you? Imagine if you did so fearlessly and without overthinking your every step.
An aspect of the creative process involves dealing with self-doubt. “What if I fail?” “What if this doesn’t make me any money?” In an attempt to make those questions go away, it’s common to talk to peers or mentors and seek their approval. While this action in itself is alright, it’s also important to validate your own voice and instincts. Otherwise, it’s someone else deciding your next moves.
Even after getting feedback, the doubts are still there. “What if what I’m creating is irrelevant on social media?” “What if no one interacts with my content?” There’s that need for external validation again.
It happens to me too.
As an author, I keep an eye on newly released books. I can’t help but notice that there are some genres that get more attention than others. Sometimes I wonder if it’d be a “safer” bet to embrace one of those hot genres and see how that goes. My struggle sounds like this:
“Wow, other authors are making it big in that genre. Should I go for it too? Nobody else seems to be writing in the genre I do. Would switching to popular trends be beneficial? I could also get more engagement on social media. But still…I’m not so sure.”
It’s exactly in the middle of that inner debate that creative intuition kicks in. That’s when I need to be real and ask myself: “does this genre truly align with the type of story I want to tell?” Most of the time, I find that I’m more excited to work on a book idea that wouldn’t fit into any of the popular trends.
When doubts get the worst out of you, I want you to remember that…
Continue reading “When Your Creative Intuition Says Make it Anyway”
