Art
How About We Not Be Perfectionist During a Pandemic?
Sorry I’ve been quiet: I’ve been finishing my latest book, Productivity is Power: 5 Liberating Practices for College Students. I’ll have more to share on that shortly. I’m compelled to write now, however, because there’s been a spate of posts by people who seem to think that shaming others for their supposed underproductivity during a…
Read MoreHow to Cope With Clueless Questions, Crass Comments, and Crazy Conjectures
Note: I’m re-upping this one from 2013, as it seems a useful follow-up to the Robert Caro post. Also see this piece on Advice for Academic Couples (excerpted from my book The 7 Secrets of the Prolific.) – Best, Hillary Oh, the things people say to writers! “What do you do?” “What do you write?”…
Read MoreBiographer Robert Caro on How It’s All About Perspective
Most books (and many theses and other projects) take years to produce, and that’s a simple fact. And yet, the “When will you be done?” question can bedevil new writers in particular. (Even worse when it’s phrased disrespectfully, as in: “What? Are you still working on that thing?”) That’s why this anecdote from Caro’s autobiography…
Read MoreRoll Over Beethoven!
At a recent performance of Johannes Brahms’s First Symphony, the conductor told how, when Brahms was just starting out, the elder composer Robert Schumann praised him to the high heavens. Here’s the story: Brahms was only twenty years old and as yet little known….Robert expressed his admiration first in a letter to Joachim, and then…
Read MoreSix Things To Do If You’re Having Trouble Finishing Your Work
Here’s the list: (1) Show it! Often we procrastinate because we’re afraid to show our work to anyone. (“Afraid” is probably putting it lightly—we’re often terrified.) So stop hoarding your work and start showing it. But be judicious: there’s no point in showing to clueless or callous people. Show only to kind supporters who “get”…
Read MoreWell Paid New York Times Writers Have Interesting Theoretical Discussion on Whether Poverty is Good for (Other) Writers
“Do Money Woes Spur Creativity or Stifle It?” This was the dingbat question editors of the New York Times Bookends column considered worth debating this week. I’ll share my full comment on the piece in a moment, but first: can you even imagine asking this about practitioners in any non-arts field? I can’t! Gives you…
Read MoreSorry, Kurt Vonnegut, You’re “Not Compelling Enough”
Everyone gets rejected. Even Kurt Vonnegut, Madonna, Andy Warhol, and others who went on to be luminaries in their field. If you get rejected, don’t take it to heart. Learn from the experience and move on. Mostly, rejection is simply proof that you haven’t given up–which is a great thing.
Read MoreOn the Topic of Not Waiting for Ideal Conditions to Get Started
Here’s a gent who, having lost a lot of his vision in old age, continues to paint amazing things **using Microsoft Paint.** Very inspiring – and you won’t believe what he can do.
Read MoreIra Glass on Developing Your Creative Skill: Go for Quantity, Not Quality
The below 2 minute video of Ira Glass explaining how the secret to artistic quality is to do a lot of art is well worth your time. Bayles and Orland make the same point in their terrific book Art & Fear. They tell a (true, I believe) story of two pottery classes: One class was…
Read MoreDesigner Milton Glaser’s Universe of Abundance
An important element of perfectionism is a sense of scarcity and deprivation, so this quotation from iconic graphic designer Milton Glaser offers an important antiperfectionist message: “If you perceive the universe as being a universe of abundance, then it will be. If you think of the universe as one of scarcity then it will be…I…
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