The creative person basically has two kinds of jobs: One is the sexy, creative kind. Second is the kind that pays the bills. Sometimes the task in hand covers both bases, but not often. This tense duality will always play center stage. It will never be transcended.
-- Hugh Macleod, How To Be Creative: 7. Keep your day job., 08-22-04
I think this is not an impediment to creativity, but part and parcel of it.
ReplyDeleteRecently I watched The Godfather again. I listened to the commentary track, in which director Francis Ford Coppola recounts constant battles with the producers. He had to fight for his casting decisions. He had to fight to make it a period film. He hastily threw together one of the most dramatic scenes in the movie because he felt certain he was going to be fired if the producers came on set and didn't see some violence.
As I was listening, I tried to imagine an alternate world in which the producers respected his artistic vision in all things and gave him a totally free hand. I couldn't imagine that in such a world, he would have created a film nearly as good.
Creativity is a struggle. It has to be.
There's some truth to that too, fer sure.
ReplyDeleteWell,
ReplyDeleteMaybe the merde of the anonymous naysayers IS the fertile field of creativity.....it is a hard field to reap........and at this moment in time, I'm very unsure of the worth of the struggle. Breathe, breathe!
Bron
Bron said...
ReplyDelete"...I'm very unsure of the worth of the struggle. Breathe, breathe!"
Bron...IMHO, I think that you have taken the "anonymous naysayers'" comments WAY too personally, lately. And...I guess I am curious: did you make your items to please yourself or...others? I believe that you have created items that *spoke* to you...not to anyone else so...if NO ONE liked what you created, would it *really* matter, in the grand scheme of things? YOU *have* the ability and talent to create these items (as opposed to those who DON'T...myself included) for YOURSELF and you DID. That should be satisfaction enough, for the soul, no? :-)
I have written this little saying, somewhere else, in the past, that I read, once, and I thought it PURE GOLD (and...trust me...I STILL have to work to remind myself of this...OFTEN; perhaps it will help you?): "YOUR opinion of ME (or...in this case, "the stuff I created") is NONE of MY business" so...IF there are naysayers: SO WHAT?! Let their *snide* comments roll off of you...like water off of a duck's back. Sadly, we live in a CRUEL world! :-( Forgetaboutit! ;-)
TC,
ReplyDeleteFor the most part, naysayers are unimportant.
We can say we do things for ourselves, but we all want an "audience" of some sort, for whatever we do.
My "angst" at this moment in time has very little to do with naysayers, though a surplus of them can be wearing.