DO
Once I’m warm, I do about a half-dozen focused freewrit-ing sessions on the article topic. I dump everything I know about the subject onto the page, and I also force my mind in new directions. I’m courting surprise. Here’s where I’ll open up words, list bad ideas, have paper conversations, and the like.
Mark Levy • Accidental Genius
Do it whether the final product (your souvenir) is crap or gold. Do it whether the critics love you or hate you—or whether the critics have never heard of you and perhaps never will hear of you. Do it whether people get it or don’t get it.
Elizabeth Gilbert • Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear
“To be good, many people think that they’ll achieve it by doing no harm, and that’s a lie.
That leads to stagnation, to mediocrity. Just slap something on it when you see a blank canvas staring at you with a sort of imbecility.
You don’t know how paralyzing it is, that stare from a blank... See more
“To Whom it May Inspire,” Austin wrote. “I, like many of you artists out there, constantly shift between two states. The first (and far more preferable of the two) is white-hot, ‘in the zone’ seat-of-the-pants, firing on all cylinders creative mode. This is when you lay your pen down and the ideas pour out like wine from a royal chalice! This
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