I have two simple questions today, and I would love for you to email me and let me know:
- What is your biggest fear regarding your creative work in 2016?
- What is your greatest hope for it?
Please email me at dan@wegrowmedia.com with your answers.
I will kick this off by answering the questions myself below:
What is my biggest fear regarding my creative work in 2016? That all of my clever ideas won’t work. That, despite my best efforts, other people’s messages will resonate with those I want to reach more than my own. That, even though I deeply believe in the work I do, that I will squander the opportunity by either investing my energy in the wrong things, or worse: diminish its edge and focus by trying to make it appeal to too broad of an audience. That I will be less honest publicly than I could, maybe because I am trying to protect myself, maybe because I think it will make my ideas more appealing. And yes, I’m afraid that others will simply be smarter, more clever, more helpful, more amazing, and work harder than I did.
What is my greatest hope for my creative work in 2016? That I can help other creative people move to the next level. That I don’t just inspire them, but that my work actually has an affect in their lives that changes things for the better. And let’s face it, I want to feel that I have moved things for myself to that next level too. That my message and my daily work has a renewed sense of clarity. And that people SEE and FEEL that clarity — that it resonates better than it has in the past. That an underlying sense of momentum permeates the year, and that while everything I try won’t work, that one of my ideas will become a breakout success. And that this will open up a path that no longer seems so fraught with weeds, dead ends, and cliffs. That it leads to a new landscape filled with amazingly creative folks. And that this landscape is filled with people taking ACTIONS to fulfill the vision they have for their work.
So why am I asking you these questions? Because I want to better serve you in 2016. Better newsletters & blogs that speak to your needs; better courses and services; better, well, Better Dan.
And I can’t do that unless you tell me the stuff that you most hope to achieve with your creative work, or the biggest roadblocks to your creative work.
So please consider letting me know.
Thanks!
-Dan
My greatest fear is a continuation of the status quo, which is this:
the only people who buy my books are those who are standing right in
front of me. Darn near everyone who attends a reading buys a book.
That’s excellent for the event, but nobody is buying from Amazon or
B&N. Not even my newsletter subscribers, who faithfully read me and
take the time to email compliments.
My greatest hope…that
one’s hard to pin down. I’m not even sure I have a hope, because, my
work is getting very wonderful feedback from the people who attend my
events. They are personally touched by my writing. Geez, at my last
event, a musician friend had even written a new song, inspired by my
book. It would never occur to me to hope for something that big! The
best I can do in the hope department is turn around my greatest fear and
hope for more sales.
Thank you so much for sharing this Dawn, and congratulations on the success you are having!
-Dan
My greatest fear is that I will not be able to generate good ideas to keep me motivated to write and I will continue to procrastinate and not see any results.
My greatest hope is that I will get a book published and people will find and enjoy reading my work.
Thank you so much Christine!
-Dan
My greatest fear is that I will continue spinning for another year. A bzillion great ideas, execution of only a very few. I dont want to say that I’m stuck; I’m not. I continue to do my work–teaching, writing, being engaged with a lively community of writers. But I want to try out some new dances but I don’t know how to change the music.
My greatest hope is that I will expand my creative reach and create a broader, deeper community
Judy, Well I LOVE how you frame this: “I want to try out some new dances but I don’t know how to change the music.” Thank you so much!
-Dan
Hi Dan,
Here I go….
My greatest fear is that the reason for my ‘lack of success’ to date (and yes, success can be measured in many ways, so let’s pin it down to growth in email list and # sales) is that my work is nothing special and the quality isn’t there and no amount of FB adds, website promotions, outreach etc will make a difference, b/c the underlying work is poor. (Wow, that was heavy)
On a lighter, more positive note, my greatest hope is that all my hard work will pay off. I will be part of an engaged community who love to share their ideas and thoughts with me. I’d love the hear the stories or see the pictures of people with my work and hope that it gives them as much pleasure as I have when creating it in the first place.
Martina,
Thank you for sharing this! Invigorating to do so, right? Have a wonderful day.
-Dan
My greatest fear is that my income will plummet again. I’m having a great year, thanks mostly to a single client. I’ve never had success with cold emails (I get huge response – like 50% – but no work). Similarly to Dawn, my only clients are people I know and have worked with before, and in this work, I’m not using my greatest strengths (which aren’t really applicable in that world). My greatest hope is that I find a way to make a living (and make a difference) with my own (first-person) writing. That’s what resonates most deeply with people; that’s where I get the greatest feedback; that’s what I’m most passionate about…but how to support myself while I do it, that’s the challenge.
Sarah,
Thank you for the honesty! I feel like just answering the question is the beginning of an analysis that leads to change. Have a great day!
-Dan