Dear AD, I'd love to send my portfolio to bigger companies like WotC, yet I'm still postponing it. I guess I might be more afraid of actually making it in, than being refused. Is that normal? I'm keeping myself from those dream jobs, right? Taking that step just seems so scary sometimes - from staying low/working for people who found me themselves and love my work to actually sending portfolio to someone who never heard of me (probably) and reaching for something I've been dreaming of for years.
WHAT? Stop that. Have Grown Up You lovingly give Scared You a hot mug of something and a good talk about how you KNOW it’s scary, and everything is always scary the first time, but you believe in you and if there’s no reply or if an email comes back saying you’re not ready, so what? You get up, dust yourself off, analyze your work without anger, then set about growing your skill. (It’s SKILL, something you can train…not a thing that’s born in you or you’ll never have it.) And then try it again.
If Grown Up You has to get involved again, make it so. If you need to have a friend press Send on the email, that’s ok too! I’ve literally done that a few times, to trick the fear into not controlling me.
REACH. Keep growing, but always reach.