Begin. That’s It.

To lose sight of oneself is to let go of that which you are meant to be.

Pressing onward into what we are supposed to accomplish in this world as an artist is far more paramount than conforming to the expectations of the rest of society.

I’m talking about beginning. Choosing to start the hard path.

This doesn’t mean being naïve or anti-pragmatic, but it means you should never give up your artistic path.

Yet, you can’t give anything up if you don’t start it first.

Are there reasons that beginning in our gifts is difficult?

Yes.

There are many instances in our lives of people who don’t want us to take certain paths because they aren’t the normal thing to do.

Which is funny to me because the richest people in the world often dropped out of college and care little for employment (but if you must pay the bills or just occupy some of your free time, no shade).

The reason the risk-taking people are where they are is due to them not taking the prescribed path from mass society.

I’m sure many of them feel incredibly blessed and grateful to be where they are, despite the common notions of stuck-up celebrities and those with influence.

But we should take a lesson from those who have paved the path ahead of us.

In writing, rejection is almost guaranteed, especially in today’s volatile publishing landscape.

Yet, those who are doing the thing are there because they chose not to quit.

 They had long nights of restless work. Many of them had people around them that did not see the vision or the path meant for them to blaze.

But that should never stop our personal roads to the glory of the coming days.

The truth is, you’ve got to be at least fractionally delusional about making it somewhere in the field of art. Not to the point of misplaced grandeur, obviously, but to the point that you believe you can make it the same way others have before you.

The best choice for ensuring that happens is to avoid people who detract from your work ethic and strange (to their perspective) choices, because they may not have any dreams or aspirations for themselves. Those people might also have failed in the past, with no hope of achieving anything else because of that failure.

The lack of a beginning is the abundance of a loss.

You just lose by default.

What do I mean by this?

If you fail over and over, you are far more likely to make it than someone who failed once. Doubly true if you have failed and choose not to try ever again.

I’ve said many times here that it may not be your first book, but it sure as hell might be your tenth book.

Every word is practice for the next echelon of your craft.

There’s also something I noticed about detractors that is a common theme among many of them—besides the trolls.

Instead of contributing by using their specific gifts and talents (which all people have), they choose to misplace their time being angry or disapproving of others’ accomplishments.

The world needs more of your gift, as there is never enough of that talent to go around. Every mind and all skills are unique to the person who wields them.

Please create something and produce instead of only consuming, and support others instead of only tearing them down.

I want everyone to succeed at whatever they put their hands to.

Criticism of another person’s path or gift does nothing for my own path or gift, only causing needless, time-wasting nothingness.

Sometimes you must sacrifice your free time and consuming behavior for the fruit of larger fulfillments.

Imagine where your writing ability will be in ten years. Think about what your cooking could do for a mass-catering event you wouldn’t come across unless you began. Visualize the world-traveling solo business that is within your grasp.

For the love of the rest of the world, please begin.