Saw a great quote, but it was longer than 140 characters so I couldn’t just reTweet it. It came from a Q&A with the author William Gibson (link). (I’m a sci-fi wanna-be—I don’t really ever read it, but I want to. So I just read about it on Boing Boing.)
His answer to a question about “writer’s block”:
… The process of learning to write fiction, for me, was one of learning to almost continually be doing it *through* the block, in spite of the block, the block becoming the accustomed place from which to work…
Really useful words for anyone who finds it difficult to create and who procrastinates when faced with “the block”, me included. The feeling of being blocked isn’t the problem, that’s just the way it feels to create. The same reason exercise feels like work, if it didn’t it wouldn’t be accomplishing anything. The problem is letting it stop you from the act of creation.
If you feel like your facing a block, don’t let it stop you, don’t complain about it. Creation is hard, painful, and full of self-doubt. Those that seem to create endlessly no doubt deal with this constantly and are able work through it. Which is reassuring, because it means the rest of us can too.
A similar quote from “The Power of Thinking Big”. I’m paraphrasing, but the gist is: Don’t wait for conditions to be perfect in order to get started, conditions will never be “just right”.
You could apply this to anything where creation is involved. Just get started. Don’t wait for perfection, the muse will never come and do the work for us.
Not the answer anyone wants to hear. Sorry.
Did you enjoy this article? Get more of it...
Subscribe:
If want to get more stuff like this, subscribe now and you'll receive the latest updates instantly by email.
Share It:
Share this post with your network on one of these popular sites:
Follow:
Follow Jim (@jimfmunro) on Twitter here.
Become A Fan:
Become a Fan of Jim on Facebook.
