Count your chickens

Celebration is a critical part of the creative process

I’ve been feeling low because the sales of my latest middle grade book haven’t been as strong as the previous one’s. There are many factors at play in how a book sells and I have little control over any of them, but I feel the pressure to perform nonetheless. It makes me feel like a failure sometimes, which really sucks. Then I see a picture like this one from the Chappaqua Book Festival last weekend and it reminds me that I’ve published FIVE F*CKING BOOKS. And that should be celebrated.

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my desk when I first started writing books, at my first home

When I first started writing books twelve years ago, I had no idea what I was doing. I just woke up one day with an idea for a story and started writing it. I didn’t know how to draft or revise or get an agent, but I DID believe I would be published. As I researched how to build a career as an author, it seemed like the most important quality to have was faith in yourself. Fortunately, my fifteen year career in product design had already taught me to trust my creative process, because that’s all you need—faith in your process.

How do we build this faith?

We build faith in ourselves and our creative process by celebrating every achievement along the way. Start your notebook? Celebrate. Finish a page? Celebrate. Solve a problem? Celebrate. Write a paragraph? Celebrate.

The key to reinforcing positive results is CELEBRATING THOSE RESULTS. I’m shouting that because society says bragging is bad form, but celebrating what you have achieved is NOT bragging. Bragging is being excessively boastful in a way that’s not kind to others, but seeks to diminish them. Proudly celebrating your milestones is not bragging. It’s essential to building the faith you need to take on the next challenge.