How do I know if my ideas are any good?

Last year my daughter experienced her first Indian wedding food feast.

She’s not one for spice. She’s more potatoes and pasta. So, she was reluctant to try the new foods out.

Mum, is that nice? How about that, what does that taste like?

Knowing she was looking for re-assurance and certainty I tried my best to describe the foods to her. But I always ended with, you won’t know if you like it, if you don’t try it.

And it’s the same with our book ideas.

At the beginning of the process, it can seem overwhelming.

We have many ideas, thoughts. We want to know which ones are the good ones. The ones we should write about.

But at this stage we won’t know which the good ones are (like the chicken biryani for Luna) until we write through them.

Because we don’t usually receive our ideas fully formed. What starts as one idea turns into another as we write. Or what feels enlivening at first, turns out to be a dead end with no place the idea can go.

So, if you’re struggling to know the good ideas from the not so good - don’t wait, write through them.

And you’ll find the wisdom always comes in the writing, never in the waiting.

🖤