Welcome to the New Age: A Story of Starting, Stopping, and Plowing Through Anyway

I started and deleted several drafts tonight.

That’s odd for me. In 301 days of essays, I’ve only reached a creative impasse a handful of times.

Was it because it’s “Shipping Day 1” of the new cohort and I felt some pressure to show-off, as upper classmen often do when new students arrive?

Was it because it was a relatively lazy day, perhaps devoid of regular creative prompts? Or was it that way at all? I spent the day with my kids and then went to a friend’s rock show earlier tonight. That’s generally plenty of material to draw upon.

I considered writing about how cool it was that my buddy can shred on the electric guitar. I considered writing about my kids as usual. I even considered writing some bullshit about habit formation, as if anyone gives a single fuck about that on Saturday night.

I considered writing something inspiring for new creators. Or something bold. Or something humorous.

There are many days when I can draw some philosophical meaning from the mundane. Then there are the days like today where I can’t summon a single whit of deeper thought even in the face of constant inspiration.

So it goes, and I accept it all.

Because I know that overnight success doesn’t come after Day 1 let alone Day 301.

That should comfort those of us on the creative path. That means we still have time. Time to sharpen our skills. Time to grow our networks. Time to figure out what’s really important to us.

If you are one of the lucky ones that learns to love this path, then congratulations. But steel yourself, this is not for the faint of heart.

Welcome to the new age.