The Starting is the Hardest Part

What's your magic?

photo by Michaela Kranich via Pixabay

Creative work is a magic trick, an act of making something appear out of nothing. It’s hard not to doubt magic, especially magic that requires work, and so sometimes, when I complete a project and start looking for the next one, I wonder if I really know what I’m doing.

That’s where I am now. I’m thinking about building a cigar box guitar, but I haven't built one in several years. The thought of getting started on a new build puts me in this place of wondering, “Do I know how to do that? Will I remember what to do, and when? Will it work?”.

I have a number of perfectly healthy me-built cigar box guitars, at home and at work, that I play all the time. I must know something about making them, because these instruments function, and I enjoy playing them and using them to write songs.

But still, I doubt.

Okay, well then I’ll write a song instead. Yesterday I saw some ideas I’d written down, and a couple of nice turns of phrase that seemed to have potential. Then I had a momentary, vertiginous feeling. Write a song? How would I do that? Where would I start?

I’ve written a couple of dozen songs that don't embarrass me, not even a little, and I've translated a dozen more that worked well enough to have been released as an album. When I listen to any of those songs, it’s plain to hear that they’re fully fledged, each flapping about on its own musical wings.

Again, I doubt.

I’ve realized that things are a bit different at work. In my photo studio, my creative work is part of a commercial relationship, and in that context, with livelihoods and other people’s expectations on the line, I just have to start. It also helps that we have an actual start time, this thing called an appointment.

Still, even there, in that moment before taking the first photo, especially if I’m just back from a break, I’ll sometimes look at my subjects and wonder, how am I going to do this? Where do I start?

There must be others out there who experience some doubt or apprehension at the start of a new project. What do you do to get yourself going?