I’ve made a goal to post here every Tuesday to tell you about my creative process and hopefully inspire you to start or continue yours. When I started posting in September, I had all these blog ideas and I just wrote and wrote and wrote. Then I got sick in November and I wasn’t worried because I had all these posts backed up. I was good to go.
So I didn’t write a post for a week.
And then two weeks.
And then a month.
And gradually the idea of writing a post became more and more intimidating.
In every post I write a section from my Creativity, who is crazy and wacky (Creativity says they don’t mean the same thing) and unpredictable. I love writing her, but boy, if I haven’t written her for a while her voice starts to intimidate me.
So I put off writing a new post. And kept putting it off. Until I realised my mistake.
But I’m sure Creativity can explain the mistake even better than I can.
Geronimo!
Imagine me sliding into frame down a bright yellow and blue slippery dip in the shape of a pretzel! That should be my default entrance method!
So, about the mini drought.
I didn’t go anywhere. I was still knocking and huffing and throwing imaginary blueberry, white chocolate, and fruit loop muffins in Jessica’s direction on a daily basis.
But she got scared (am I allowed to say that?). Well, she did. She got out of practice. Like an orchestra tuba player who has been tubaless for several months (tuba players need to practice, don’t they? Or do they just play the one note? Someone jump in and back me up here!). She got rusty and then the idea of going back to writing got more and more intimidating.
Being creative can be scary. But you know what makes it less scary? Doing it regularly. Giving yourself permission to make a mess and then showing up regularly to make that mess.
The mistake is stopping. The mistake is thinking it will be easier tomorrow so it’s best to wait.
Don’t wait.
Waiting just gums up the bright yellow and blue slippery dip and makes it harder for your Creativity to make an entrance the next time. Do it regularly. Let your Creativity in every day if possible, even if just for a few moments. The more time you spend with your Creativity, the less intimidating the process will be.
To be honest, I had a good reason to change my focus from writing blog posts for a while. I spent my time getting my sci-fi romance novel Be All My Futures Remembered up and available for you to read. That’s been a process of years and finally I got myself back into the habit of producing books. That’s another habit I haven’t done for a long time and is easier the more I do it.
But I realised I need to keep my hand in—writing, blogging, publishing, promoting—doing a bit of everything regularly so that no one muscle atrophies. Not doing something for a while just makes it harder to do. Doing a little often makes it more doable the next time you sit down to do it.
So what about you? What are you putting off doing? What feels too hard to start? What little thing could you do to dip your toe in the water and start getting into a new creative habit?
“I Made a Mistake, Now I Need to Learn From It,” copyright © 2025 by Jessica Baverstock. Image at the top of the blog from .