Two weeks ago I opened Notion to look at my old notes for the anatomy book I planned on making.

I made a brain dump for it a couple years ago and forgot how much was in there. It took me a while just to read through everything and understand what I had.

I felt pretty overwhelmed.

The actual problem

I’m not really worried about the drawing part. I’ve already done a lot of studies and they were well received.

The part I’m nervous about is that I don’t actually know how to make a book. I’ve read pretty much all the other anatomy books about furry and anthropomorphic characters. There are maybe three books that specialize in that and they all have gaps I’m pretty sure I could cover.

But I don’t know how to design the book. I need to learn new software, figure out Amazon publishing, how books are printed, what format, how to price it, sell it, handle fulfillment, taxes. I don’t know any of this.

So I feel unqualified even though the drawing, which is the most important part, is fine. My brain is just telling me it’s too much.

Why that’s fine

I know I can get through it because I’ve felt this before.

When I started the newsletter it was a very long journey. I had to learn how to make websites, how to write, how to stay consistent. Now I’m publishing every week, more than 40 weeks in a row. I would have never thought that was possible when I was starting out.

It’s just the feeling of being a beginner when you’re lost but you know it’s the right thing to do and you don’t have the skills yet. So you just gotta close the gap. That’s what I’m doing.

What gets you through

If a project feels too big, you’re probably trying to hold the whole thing in your head at once.

Don’t. Focus on one step at a time. Set a clear deadline for that step and actually follow it. That’s the only way to move through something complex.

My first deadline was finishing a brief outline of the whole book by end of this week. I’m almost done. After that I’ll go part by part, then when I have the full detailed outline I’ll start on the actual pages.

It’s impossible to feel ready when you’ve never done it before, so the only first step is to actually start it and trust the process.