I was recently overcome with the desire to start drawing a multi-page comic, something I haven’t really done in three years. It’s a little too early to talk about what the comic is about specifically, especially because the concepts and characters are still swimming around in my head and anything and everything is subject to change.
What I want to talk about is fear. It’s a specific kind of fear, and I don’t know to what extent it applies to others. At the beginning of the creative process, I get an idea, and occasionally it turns out to be a good one. But then fear sets in. What this fear says is, “I’m not good enough to do this. I shouldn’t be doing this at all. I should improve my basic skills before I even consider doing something.” Improving one’s skills separate from the project at hand is not something I believe as necessary, but it’s in that moment of fear and hesitation that it seems to resonate and overwhelm other thoughts.
Ultimately, it comes down to the (unreasonable) idea that the mistakes might tarnish the eternal soul of the creative work. If I release it to the wild that consists of the eyes of others, calling it a final product, and it’s not good enough, then there won’t be a second chance. That’s the sort of thinking that is so threatening to the life of a project. It really is dangerous thinking, too. This poison concocted from the fear of consequence, fear of failure, and fear of the unknown can paralyze body and spirit, and make any goal seem unattainable. Again, it’s not something that holds up when I’m able to distance myself, but when caught up in the middle it can take a toll on my confidence if only for the briefest of moments.
I tend to eventually overcome these mental roadblocks, though the more I think about it, the more I see that this doesn’t only apply to the creative process. There are many aspects of life where fear is the ball and hesitation is the chain, and I’ve yet to unshackle. Maybe if I can think of it this way, I can move forward.
OGIUE MANIAX 
Fear is good, so long as fear doesn’t succumb to laziness. I pretty much go through what you outline. Though for me it’s more a fear of wasted effort. Maybe you don’t even need to unshackle, just pick up the ball and hobble with it as far as you can until you have to drop it again and catch your breath.
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I agree with super rats, fear is normal. It’s when you succumb to fear that you’ve made a mistake. It’s okay to be afraid, just don’t let it keep you from accomplishing your goals.
You described very well how many of us feel when we set out to do something, but are met with fear. Fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of all sorts of things. It can be paralyzing. I think it is something that keeps the vast majority of people from achieving their greatness, whatever that may be.
I’ll use Obama as an example, as I suspect you may like him. Let me first say that I didn’t vote for him, but I can still see his good qualities, and he is still our President. Anyway.
He doesn’t let fear get in his way. Yet I’m absolutely certain he feels it. Look at how tight his lips were before his Inauguration speech. He is a supremely confident man. Yet he still feels fear. He just overcomes it and it seems to me that he just grows more confident from that conquest of fear. This is a large part of why he is President of the United States of America.
I think that is one reason why we have fear. To overcome it. To make our accomplishments that much more significant. Or at least to point out when we are doing something significant.
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I do not know how to become anything; neither spiteful nor kind, neither a rascal nor an honest man, neither a hero nor an insect. Now, I am living out my life in my corner, taunting myself with the spiteful and useless consolation that an intelligent man cannot become anything seriously, and it is only the fool who becomes anything. Yes, a man in the twentyfirst century must and morally ought to be pre-eminently a characterless creature; a man of character, an active man is pre-eminently a limited creature. That is my conviction of forty years. I am forty years old now, and you know forty years is a whole lifetime; you know it is extreme old age. To live longer than forty years is bad manners, is vulgar, immoral. Who does live beyond forty? Answer that, sincerely and honestly I will tell you who do: fools and worthless fellows. I tell all old men that to their face, all these venerable old men, all these silver-haired and reverend seniors! I tell the whole world that to its face! I have a right to say so, for I shall go on living to sixty myself. To seventy! To eighty! … Stay, let me take breath …
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I understand and sympathize with the Fear.
Ze Frank has some advice about this particular brand of trepidation that you may find useful: http://www.zefrank.com/theshow/archives/2006/07/071106.html
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