Tuesday, June 17, 2014

trying to be creative here

You know that you may have a problem when people text you to check out a cartoon in the day's paper... (Link instead of picture because of copyright stuff. That lawyer knowledge still rears its ugly head upon occasion.)

It is a pretty fair description of what a Go Pro camera would reveal about my life the past few days.

This proposed pattern has me tied in knots. I have *ripped, reknit, recharted, repeat from *, so many times that I am thoroughly sick of the dang thing and still not 100% happy with it. Contrary to my usual Last Minute Lucy tendencies (have to thank Paige for that apt description), I have been working on this for weeks. The only way this one will be finished is when I cut bait and just send it in as is.

I was on Facebook wasting time today, as one is wont to do when deadlines are looming, and this wonderful and completely apropos quote appeared in my newsfeed:

Nobody tells this to people who are beginners. I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase. They quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.—Ira Glass


Even though he is talking about writing and not knitting, it still applies and I took great comfort therefrom, especially the part where I am not the only one.

I call this one 
"Bluebird of Happiness on Electronet Fencing"

1 comment:

  1. This post resonated with me! Many years ago, I had the opportunity to go to a Monet exhibit. His paintings were arranged so you could see the creative (ugly/work) process that he went through. You could see his struggle with technique, with color, with materials... and then at the end of the exhibit was Waterlillies. HERE, he put it ALL together... and that's why it is amazing. I think of that exhibit when I'm working through some creative process and it helps me keep working. There's an element of Doing that is enjoyable too.

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