Category — writing

Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love, muses on the impossible things we expect from artists and geniuses — and shares the radical idea that, instead of the rare person “being” a genius, all of us “have” a genius. She encourages to discard the burden of “being” a genius and leave it to the muse “assigned to our case”. That’s what she’s doing while writing a new book after the “freakish” success of Eat, Pray, Love. As all TED talks … awesome. A very personal and moving talk. Enjoy.

A favorite related quote:

“Don’t apologize for a mistake. Apologize if you don’t play. Knowing that effort is what matters gives people the courage to always try their hardest” - Wynton Marsalis

This great video from Ira Glass backs up much of the teaching from Art and Fear and other books with themes of “keep producing art/produce art on a schedule/just get started/just do it”. Check it:

Partial transcript:

… your taste is good enough that you can tell that what you’re making is kind of a disappointment to you. You can tell that it’s still sort of crappy. A lot of people never get past that phase; a lot of people at that point, they quit.

And the thing that I would say to you with all my heart is that most everybody I know who does interesting creative work, they went through a phase of years where they had really good taste, and they could tell what they were making wasn’t as good as they wanted it to be. They knew it fell short … But we knew that it didn’t have the special thing that we wanted it to have. And the thing I would say to you is, everybody goes through that … it’s totally normal, and the most important possible thing you could do, is do a lot of work. Do a huge volume of work. Put yourself on a deadline, so that every week or every month you know you’re going to finish one story, whatever it’s going to be. You create the deadline. It’s best if you have somebody who’s waiting for work from you. Someone who’s expecting work from you. Even if it’s not someone that pays you, but that you’re in a situation where you have to turn up the work. It’s only by going through a volume of work that you’re going to catch up and close that gap. And the work you’re making will be as good as your ambitions.

Do you have to complete a piece of writing but are putting it off? A report, a blog article, or a letter? Are you finding that the moment you sit down to write, your mind seems to go blank? Crap! Writers block! What can you do about it?

Check it at Connect with Your Creative Writer at thinksimplenow.com

Tim Ferris says in his current blog post:

I once asked Po Bronson how he beats writer’s block. His answer was “write about what makes you angry.” It works like a charm.

I like that. It does work like a charm.

“The value of nothing? Out of nothing comes something”

Author Amy Tan talks about creativity at her TED talk. (If you’ve never watched the talks at TED, be sure to check them out … there are tons of great talks; truly “ideas worth spreading”!)

Here’s Amy Tan:

Jane Northcote has a good, blunt writeup at Copyblogger telling you to “Do it” if you are trying to get some piece of work written. My favorite is #5: Tell a large number of people you’ll do it. Trap yourself. If you’ve made a commitment to a lot of people then the shame of saying you didn’t try will outweigh the effort of doing it.

Now go read it and then get writing: Getting Writing Done: How to Stop Thinking About It and Write

Experiencing local and independent art is fun. Sometimes it is inspiring.

Once in a while, you run into a FANTASTIC piece of work. Grade “A” stuff. And that is great.

Most of the time, local and independent work is tolerable to okay, you know, like if you had to give it a grade, you’d give it a “C”. You take SOMETHING from it, but overall, it’s not so memorable or inspiring.

And then the rest of the time, you run in to stuff that is SO BAD that you are embarrassed for the artist. I’m talking about stuff that you’d give a grade of “F”, or maybe “D-” if you are feeling generous.

I’ve experienced my fair share of HORRIBLE musicals, independent movies, sketch comedy, rock bands, paintings, photography, etc. But what always happens to me when I experience this stuff is that I say to myself, “I could do 10 times better than that guy without even trying”. Even if it is an art form that I have zero experience in, I feel as if I could crank out something better than the drivel that I have just experienced. It makes me want to go home and write a movie. Or write a book. Or record a song. Or paint a picture.

Don’t get me wrong, I have all the respect in the world for EVERYONE who is willing to put themselves out there and show the world their work. It often takes balls. Lots of folks who want to publish a song or write a novel or make a movie never even TRY. Usually fear stops them cold … fear of inadequacy, fear of failure, fear of ridicule, whatever. They never even try. So my hat is off to everyone who even tries.

But sometimes it is SO sad when an ambitious project that someone has sunk hours and hours and hours into is SO BAD. The good thing about experiencing this embarrassingly horrible art: it often inspires me.

So next time you’re stuck, go seek out a horrible play or indie movie or rock band. It may just give you the inspiration to produce something that is at least a “C” and who knows, you may produce an “A”.

Nice new list to get you to pick up the pen and start producing!

…a lot of people can relate to the desire to create beautiful writing, while a lot of people lack the discipline to put the pen to the paper.
Like most goals, accomplishment comes with investments in time, in brain power, and consistent commitment.

Check it out: 9 Ways to Jumpstart Your Writing Goal

photo credit: drwhimsy

Brad’s Reader has a good post on creativity: What Can John Lennon Teach Us About Creativity. He talks about John Lennon’s struggle to write a song and how he come up with Nowhere Man.



My takeaway is this:

• Do exercises to brainstorm and “just write” or whatever. They’re good. Gems can come out of this sort of thing.
• But sometimes you’ve got to stop and let your subconscious do your work for you. Rest or do a mundane task that needs to be done like the dishes or mowing the lawn. That’s when the great ideas often come.
• But then, it’s time to get to real work and make the idea a reality! Work it! Work it! Work it!

So, check out: What Can John Lennon Teach Us About Creativity

Copyblogger has posted three nice free resources today: Three Great Resources That
Won’t Cost You a Dime

Of particular note is the book “The Lonely Writer”, which helps writers get un-stuck, maintain focus and get the words out and down on paper. Download “The Lonely Writer” Directly Here.

Enjoy.

photo credit: badjonni