recalibrate your risk assessment
recalibrate your risk assessment
a quick note on creative work and taking risks
Welcome to Write More! This is the your mid-month pop-in, which comes with ideas, encouragement, and writing prompts to keep you going. I also send out a monthly intentions email on the last Sunday before a new month starts that aims to help you think through your goals and intentions for your writing practice in the coming month and to reflect on your progress in the previous month. (For October, we talked about how to ask for what you need to support your writing life, with inspiration from Lauren Groff, and earlier this week, we had our very first discussion thread about that same topic. You’d be really welcome to join in.)
If that sounds helpful and fun, subscribe here.
I read a great interview on Ask a Manager recently with Nell McShane Wulfhart, who’s a decision coach. The whole thing is worth reading, but I particularly wanted to share this snippet:
Also, recalibrate your risk assessment! This is especially relevant when it comes to things like making a choice to take a new job or stay put in your current one. People think moving to a new job is extremely risky, but realistically, the worst case scenario is not that you end up in prison, or you’re unable to feed your family. The realistic worst case scenario is that you end up in a job you don’t like very much. And … you’re probably already in that scenario. So the actual risk is low.
This moment struck me because the connection to creative work is so clear. Most of the time, the bigger risk is not trying whatever thing feels scary to you. Say you’ve been wanting to submit an essay or enter a contest or pitch an article idea to a dream pub: what’s the worst that could happen? The realistic worst case scenario is either a form rejection or radio silence. Neither are fun, but you won’t die of them, either.
And holding on to your dreams and good ideas carries its own risk, too. Every time you don’t try, you’re not only losing out on that particular opportunity, you’re also teaching yourself to dampen your creative spark and mute your ambition.
So much of any creative life is trying things and hearing no and moving past that. But if you don’t at least try—by writing the thing that matters to you, by trying to share it with the world—you’re saying no to yourself before giving anyone else a chance to say yes.
Where in your writing life can you recalibrate your risk? What have you been wanting to try? It might be a particular poem or essay you’ve been thinking about but haven’t started. It might be trying out a new genre or entering a contest or submitting someplace big and exciting.
If you need some inspiration: Emily Stoddard’s Poetry Bulletin, Matt Ortile’s pitch guide at Catapult, and Longreads’ new call for pitches, which includes lots of great examples and what specific editors are looking for:
AND, if this is your thing, over at good creatures, we’re talking about quiet quitting at home. (Stop folding laundry! Stop packing lunches! Tell us what performative good mom thing you’ve quit to make space to just be a person!) I was nervous about posting my first discussion thread at the new newsletter, but then I thought: what’s the worst that could happen? I’d love it if you would click on over and join the conversation.
Write More, Be Less Careful is a newsletter about why writing is hard & how to do it anyway. You’re always welcome to reply to this email, comment below, or find me on twitter (@nancy_reddy) and instagram (@nancy.o.reddy).