That beginners mind is what we must come back to every time we sit down and write. There is no security, no assurance that because we wrote something good two months ago, we will do it again. Actually, every time we begin, we wonder how we ever did it before. Each time is a new journey with no maps.

-Natalie Goldberg, Writing Down the Bones

Just over a year ago I released a little book about how Christmas shapes our understanding of God. The process lasted about seven months (from scribbles in a notebook to print publication) but I’d been musing on a book project for two years prior. It was one of the biggest risks I’ve ever taken but the rewards were, and are still, abundant.

There was a silly amount of personal growth, much of which I’ve yet to fully process. It also takes a dedicated and supportive team to get something like this (even a little something) off the ground, and I had quite the team. Writers can be a solitary bunch but inevitably thrive in togetherness. To write and create alone would be a horrid ordeal – no fun whatsoever.

One year on and I’m so happy to have made the voyage into the unknown. Even if no one else benefited from the work, I sure did. If you’re presently considering a creative risk of some sort I wholeheartedly recommend it.

Creatives are cartographers. We can’t draw the maps until we carve the paths. Get out there.