Dear creator,

Here's what I would like to help us both do, CREATE THE THING WE WERE MEANT TO CREATE.

Reminds me of the Dan Norris quote:

"The world will be a better place if you create what you want to create."

But, we don't.

Here's why.

We need to make money.

It's a pipedream.

No one will understand.

It's self-indulgent.

It's selfish.

What's the point?

No one will support it.

People won't like it.

People will like it, and then I'll have to be center-stage. (I hate center-stage.)

It won't make any money.

It will take me away from my work, my kids, my relationship.

It will take too much time.

It will take too much money.

What about the mortgage?

I'll have to go back to school.

I'll have to work two jobs.

I'm not talented.

I'm not creative.

I don't even know what I want to create.

Dreams are for suckers.

I haven't had a dream since 1995.

It's too hard.

I'm too old.

I'm too young.

I'm too poor.

I'm not well-connected.

No one even knows I exist.

It's been done.

It's been done better.

What if it's not any good?

What if people laugh or think it's stupid?

I sometimes think it's stupid.

I'm too lazy.

I'm not disciplined.

I procrastinate too much.

I don't know how.

Where would I even start?

I'm sure you have your own reasons for not creating the thing you were meant to create.

I get that. I have them, too. Most of these and more.

So then, question?

Do you want to do this or not?

Because you don't have to do it.

Forget about it. Keep doing what you're doing and stop thinking about it. Easy.

Except it's not that easy, right?

You've tried ignoring it, and for all the reasons listed above and then some, you haven't done this thing and yet it's still bugging you. It's like a gnat buzzing around your face constantly. You've tried crushing the stupid little thing, but it can't be squashed, and even when you think you got it, it doesn't take long before you hear its annoying little hum again. IT IS RELENTLESS.

I know about relentless callings.

For me, it's writing. Ugh. Never ending. You should be writing. Why aren't you writing? When are you going to write? I'm writing, and even then it's not enough. This isn't the right kind of writing. Seriously?! Then why don't you point the way to the right kind of writing and I'll "be about it," as the kids say (used to say? I don't know. I can't worry about being hip with this dream nagging at me all the time).

Trust me, as a near-twenty-year dream-dodger I can tell you, it's not going anywhere.

The best advice I have for us both is this:

Follow your dream.

And that's not even my advice. That's like Jiminy Cricket's advice or something.

So here's this one:

Do the thing.

I'll help you get started.

Get in touch if you'd like.

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