The Writing Life
A freelance life, a life in the arts, is sometimes like putting messages in bottles on a desert island, and hoping that someone will find one of your bottle and open it and read it, and put something in a bottle that will wash its way back to you: appreciation, or a commission, or money, or love. And you have to accept that you may put out a hundred things for every bottle that winds up coming back. – Neil Gaiman, “Make Good Art”
If I did work I was proud of, and I didn’t get the money, at least I’d have the work. – Neil Gaiman, “Make Good Art”
The first problem of any kind of limited success is the unshakeable conviction that you are getting away with something, and that any moment now they will discover you. – Neil Gaiman, “Make Good Art”
Neil Gaiman says to make good art no matter how one feels. I like how he expresses the idea, but I’m more prone to turn to Rumi:
When you start out on a career in the arts you have no idea what you are doing. This is great. People who know what they are doing know the rules, and know what is possible and impossible. You do not. And you should not. – Neil Gaiman, “Make Good Art”
If you’re making mistakes, it means you’re out there doing something. And the mistakes in themselves can be useful. – Neil Gaiman, “Make Good Art”
Mistakes are good things. They’re also incredibly hard for the perfectionist to make. The perfectionist desires and loves control. She wants to know the outcomes before the outcomes arrive. She wants to tread safely.