I recently started a sparkly new project. Sometimes it’s exciting–I think it has lots of cool potential. It might even be “the one” (you know, the one that actually gets more than tepid interest from agents and publishers).

But most of the time, I feel like this:

Photo by Robbie Houston, “Fear has big eyes,” Wikimedia Commons

In other words, I’m more than a little terrified. The scope of the story is bigger than anything I’ve tried before. It’s going to require actual research. I’m afraid that I won’t be able to write characters that are strong enough to carry the plot I have in mind.

Basically, I don’t really know what I’m doing.

But I think that’s okay. I think we *should* be writing things that terrify us a little (although not to the point that they incapacitate our writing). We should be stretching ourselves.

I spent much of Thursday and Friday last week at a local leadership conference. The one thing that stood out to me and has stuck with me in the days since, is that one characteristic of successful individuals is that they see opportunities for creativity rather than possibilities of failure. Sure, they fail sometimes. But that’s a risk they’re willing to take in order to succeed on a bigger scale than most people do.

So.

This story might be a colossal failure.

Or it might–might–actually be as cool as I think.

In any case, it’s a risk I’m wililng to take.

What about you? How do you feel when you start a new project? Have you taken any creative risks that paid off beautifully? Or spectacular failures?