Shoot for the Moon

I’ve missed you, even though I’m not entirely sure what I am doing in your inbox. To be frank, I’ve been thinking of you a lot, but every time I feel like reaching out, I get shy.

What if you don’t think my newsletter is flashy enough? Have you been reading other, smarter, funnier newsletters while I’ve been away? The jealous goblin in my head says yes.

At last, I can take it no longer. I must be brave. And we all know the bravest thing one can do, is stand up, walk over, and say “hi”.

So, Hello. I’m Alex Knepper. I’m your friendly neighborhood writer. Here, I like to talk about the writing process, the things I’m consuming that keep me inspired, and hopefully you get inspired too.

If you know someone who might like to get these in their inbox, go ahead and share it.

Today I want to talk about…

PERFECTIONISM

Dun, dun, dun!!!!

Anyone who knows me, would never, ever describe me as a perfectionist. They take one look at my kitchen sink, my posture, my hair roots, my grammar, and they think— her? A perfectionist? No way.

And yet…

When it comes to writing, putting myself out there (here, like right now) I get lost in the “loop” of perfectionism. Julia Cameron describes it as:

“Perfectionism is a refusal to let yourself move ahead. It is a loop—an obsessive, debilitating closed system that causes you to get stuck in the details of what you are writing or painting or making and to lose sight of the whole.”— Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way

Just because I am a perfectionist— does not mean I am a *successful* perfectionist. And yet, I feel that debilitating fear that keeps me from:

A) reaching out to you

B) writing my book (I felt especially called out when Julia writes: “Midway through a project, the perfectionist decides to read it all over, outline it, see where it’s going. And where is it going? Nowhere, very fast” Not that I have ever done that.. No way. Not me.)

C) reaching out to friends and family

D) editing my work

E) pitching my work

F) More… there’s always more

So today, I decided to bite the bullet (a decidedly violent metaphor) and instead of sending you a glossy newsletter with pretty images and buttons, I wanted write you a simple letter to tell you to go do the thing you have been putting off.

It’s scary, I know.

But you can do it.

I’ll leave you with this quote (It’s in The Artist’s Way— which is my new Bible, in case you haven’t noticed).

“Living is a form of not being sure, not knowing what next or how. The moment you know how, you begin to die a little. The artist never entirely knows. We guess. We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap in the dark”— Agnes de Mille

Go be unsure. Go guessing. You might find something interesting.

xx

Alex

P.S.— The title from today’s post comes from Les Brown, “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss it you will land among the stars.”

P.S.S.— This quote makes me think of my brother and my uncle who always try to shoot the moon while playing Hearts. It’s a big risk, and even if it doesn’t work, it is incredibly fun to try.