What if no one cares about your art?

The Groundhog Day of questions

Every day, I sit down to write a letter.

Every day, I think to myself, Will anyone actually read this? Does this even matter? What if no one cares what I have to say?

They’re the Groundhog Day of questions, and every artist experiences some version of them.

Taylor Swift does (this interview is from 2012, but have you magically overcome all the insecurities you had 12 years ago? Yeah, me neither).

So do Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, and every writer who has ever lived.

Helen Mirren — Dame Freaking Helen Mirren — told Harper’s Bazaar, “Sometimes I lock myself in the loo to give myself a talking to: ‘you can do it Helen, don’t worry, you can do it!’”

I needle-felted these hedgehogs. They’re much cuter than groundhogs, and they won’t doom you to six more weeks of winter.

You can do it, too.

As for that Groundhog Day of questions — what if no one cares? — I can 100 percent guarantee you that someone does care about your art.

You. You care.

As long as you care about your creative work, as long as you derive meaning and joy in the making of it, it matters. Full stop.

Keep going. You’re doing great.

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