I hope this book sucks.

I just received a proof copy for my first book. Still a way to go from here but it’s exciting to hold something in my hand. As I do, I can’t help but think one thing…

I hope this book sucks.

I don’t hope people dislike it. And I don’t hope it has mistakes or anything. I just hope in a few years when I publish my fifth book, I can look back on my first book and see how far I’ve come. I hope my fifth book blows my first book out of the water.

This is the kind of irreverent acceptance we need to have when creating. 

Many of us create with a chip on our shoulder. We’re the best in our class or our town or our friend group. So we approach creative projects with a need to be better. Ultimately, this does nothing good. It only slows us down and turns up the inner critic’s volume. 

Last weekend at Fuel the Fire Film Festival, everyone kept saying “It’s not about your first film, it’s about your tenth film.” This was a soothing sentiment for the perfectionist creators debuting their first films. An irreverent acceptance that hopefully someday we’ll look back on these films and think…this kinda sucks. 

There’s no way to get to the fifth book without publishing a first book. There’s no way to create a tenth film without a first film. 

So create what you can now. Iron out all the details. Do your best. But don’t fall for the lie that your first one needs to be perfect.