Courage to Create

For many years the sound bite I used to describe my creative life was that I was in constant motion, always searching, always trying to figure out the secret that would give me the courage to create.

I hesitated to claim certain book publications because they were published by small presses or in foreign countries. I worried about calling myself a poet even after I published a verse novel and won poetry awards. I resisted calling myself a photographer despite the fact that people bought my work. I couldn’t imagine calling myself an artist even though I had once had my work in an art gallery and people were commissioning me to create art for them.