One is a piece from Ira Glass of This American Life, about getting better at creative endeavor through practice. The other is J.K. Rowling's Harvard speech, which has been flying around the internet, but if you haven't seen it, give it a read or listen. I like her even more than I already did.
For J.K. Rowling, click HERE -- full text and/or video available.
And here's Ira:
And now, back to my regularly scheduled work day. (By the way, the Pacific Northwest is experiencing one of its coldest springs on record, and I sit here in a fleece poncho. It's in the 50s!! Ack! Of course, one of the things I love about the Northwest is that most of the year the weather doesn't tempt you out to play -- and that is some temptation I don't need right now as I feverishly revise. But still, it is June 11! )
Not to leave you without a few fun random animal pictures:
(baby slender loris)
(hedgehog babies -- so cute!!)
3 comments:
I love that video of Ira SO MUCH. I think I'll link to you and post it tomorrow. It deserves, needs, MUST be passed on and heard by anyone who wants to create anything.
And he didn't say it, but I think that gap is always there, even for a master artist. As your skill grows, so does your expectation of what you should be doing with that skill. So you will always be not quite making it to where you want to be. But I don't know that for sure, 'cause I'm very far from being there yet!
Sara, I think you're totally right. I can't imagine ever feeling fully satisfied -- and I think if there comes a time when you DO stop striving for something better, something beyond you, then. . . it's kind of over. Complacency has no place in creation! Of course, being able to love what you've done is wonderful, but I think there must always be that spark, that nagging thought that you could do better. . .
oh my god
those can't be real they CAN'T be real those hedgehog babies OH MY GOD-- my eyes are stuck on your screen-- cannot escape they are too WILD.
~bp
p.s. SO glad you loved the links, my kindred spirit-- I did, too.
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