Doing Things the Hard Way
The best part of this whole process to-date, is learning that something I thought was a liability for me is actually my greatest love. I tend to do things “the hard way”. Recently I realized “the hard way” and the creative process are one.
I learned this one day when an art student told me the creative process was “too hard”. I’d heard it a million times (at least 50 times from Sanchez). He spent weeks insisting her couldn’t draw or paint even though he was doing a fine job. One day he handed me the paintbrush as I was encouraging him and said, “You do it.” Rarely have I altered a student’s artwork. I encourage the struggle with learning how to do various things. Eventually, if we give up the struggle, what we need comes through. This can appear to be quite different than what we originally expected and, like Sanchez, we might miss the beauty of what we’re doing.
When I first wrote Gold Lame’ I had no idea I would publish, or self-publish it, or produce an audio recording with full character voices and all the learning that was required. As a creative, I enjoy the struggle (most of the time) and noticed the stories I tell myself. I like this one: each day, whether or not it was good enough is relative to what I intended to do. I could tweak this thing forever, but it’s time to let it go. If my intent was to be creative, then it’s good enough.
I learned this one day when an art student told me the creative process was “too hard”. I’d heard it a million times (at least 50 times from Sanchez). He spent weeks insisting her couldn’t draw or paint even though he was doing a fine job. One day he handed me the paintbrush as I was encouraging him and said, “You do it.” Rarely have I altered a student’s artwork. I encourage the struggle with learning how to do various things. Eventually, if we give up the struggle, what we need comes through. This can appear to be quite different than what we originally expected and, like Sanchez, we might miss the beauty of what we’re doing.
When I first wrote Gold Lame’ I had no idea I would publish, or self-publish it, or produce an audio recording with full character voices and all the learning that was required. As a creative, I enjoy the struggle (most of the time) and noticed the stories I tell myself. I like this one: each day, whether or not it was good enough is relative to what I intended to do. I could tweak this thing forever, but it’s time to let it go. If my intent was to be creative, then it’s good enough.
photo: one of my pet snails...it's a long story
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