The Thursday! Newsletter 2-12: Another Pep for Our Steps
Volume 2, Issue 12
I think it might be pep talk time again.
If you just groaned a little and thought, "Oh, no. Not again", know that I'm mostly with you. And if you want to strap on the parachute and bail out, I don't blame you at all. I did not intend for Thursday! to be an inspirational, affirming kind of thing. I wanted it to be a place where I could share how I do what I do in the hopes that you could use some of it to do what you do better, or at least more easily. I wanted to show you how I thrash through my creative woods so that you might do a bit less thrashing.
It's not quite turned out that way. In fact, very little has turned out the way any of us had planned the past year and a half, I'll wager. We are doing things we didn't expect in ways we didn't expect. Worse, we aren't doing things we very much wanted to do. It sits on you, doesn't it? It perches on your shoulder and nags at you like a malignant little parrot-thing, whispering to you how you're off-track and missing something important. You don't know what you're doing. The improvisation isn't working because...oh, a lot of reasons.
Is it true, though?
Well, it might be. Maybe you are off-track. Maybe you did miss something important. Maybe you're wandering and the wandering isn't what you need. We can't discount that, right? We can not -- and should not -- throw away the possibility that the little negative whisper-voice is right, at least a little. Of course, the rest of what it says, that you're worthless and useless and a failure, that you won't be as good nor accomplished as you want to be, isn't true. But the "state of your creative world" stuff? Yeah. Could be.
If it is, you have a little bit of work to do, but you can't know with complete certainty that it is right. You don't know for sure what your true path is. You can't ever know what your next sure step should be. You can only know that you will take another step and roughly in what direction. If you want to write a book, the next step is to write an opening scene. If you want to write a song, first write a hook. If you want to paint a picture, set up the canvas and get paint on that brush. The only way to get on-track is to start moving on a track. Pick one. Do one thing.
By the way? I'm ignoring inspiration here, because inspiration doesn't matter. Neither do your plans. Neither does who you were ten years ago, five years ago, last year, or yesterday. What matters most for your creative life (and maybe even your whole life, though I'm not so sure I want to be the guy who speaks that broadly) is that you do something good and useful now. Today. You do not have to be perfect. What you do certainly won't be perfect. It will be worthwhile, though. It will be a step that brings you closer to wherever you're going.
After you've done that one thing, you get to do another thing. Then see what's up. How are those things working together? Well? Great! Do a third thing. Two points is a path. Three points is a better path. Point after point, action after action. Keep on. Don't worry about "supposed to" and "well, last year I thought...". Next thing. You have an actual project now. Don't think so? Wait until you do a few things then see what you have. That's a project. That's art. That's your work. It's not done yet but it will be if you keep on going. Write another scene. Paint another stroke. Write the next bar.
Or don't!
Let's not overlook the value of taking a few days to breathe and take some pressure off yourself. Sometimes, when you're walking down a path, you need to take a little time to sit down and enjoy where you are right now. Remember how you don't have to be perfect? You also don't have to walk down your path every day on a forced march of guilt, lashed by hustle and what you think you're obliged to do. Enjoy where you are, look back at how you got there, then turn around and find a good place for your foot to land next. Then keep on going.
Make sense? This isn't much of a how-to guide. It's more like a "just do" guide. The world is weird, suddenly sharp, occasionally louder than it needs to be, and disorienting. You're okay, though. You really are. And you've got a pretty cool path to walk. Might as well take that step, right?
Me, too. Let's take our steps together. What do you say?
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What I Wrote Last Week
"Fears of an Insecure Poet" is a poem that is very much what it appears to be.
Remember that sci-fi classic novel Lucifer's Hammer? "Dominic's Hammer" is not that. But it is good!
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One Last Thing
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