Motivational Statement for Creative People

[moxham123]

A Motivational Statement for Creative People from Writer Ira Glass that can be applied to any creative person.

[songsmith]

Excellent advice! I recently posted how many songs I've written over the years, and was derided for it... by someone who has no inkling of the difficulty of such a body of work. In no way did I say that all those songs were hits, or even acceptable, though I did point out that some of them were pretty good. They weren't good because I wrote them, they were good because I educated myself on what makes songs good, then I worked very hard. I don't claim that all of them are good, but they're as good as I can make them. I then play them for someone, and see what they think. If people seem to like it, it's a keeper... and I never take it personally if people aren't impressed, because I have plenty more already, and write new ones all the time.
I have detractors, and always will, but I keep writing. My own dad used to make fun of my songs, but I kept at it, in defiance. If nobody ever liked a single song, I'd still do it.
Keep doing something creative, and you will get better at it, period.

[RobTheDrummer]

They should drop a bunch of these flyers at the Occupy movements.

[songsmith]

That's a good idea! The Occupy folks need to stay creative and keep working at it.
Did you see that the Occupy Movement is twice as popular as a certain Astroturf corporate-sponsored media-driven movement? What happens when those people VOTE?!

http://articles.businessinsider.com/201 ... ly-polling

[lonewolf]

They should drop a bunch of these flyers at the Occupy movements.

ROFLMAO! Good one Rob!

[lonewolf]

That's a good idea! The Occupy folks need to stay creative and keep working at it.
Did you see that the Occupy Movement is twice as popular as a certain Astroturf corporate-sponsored media-driven movement? What happens when those people VOTE?!

http://articles.businessinsider.com/201 ... ly-polling

All 5000 of them? Maybe if they get multiple ballots.

[kayla]

thats a pretty cool lil poster. i'm thinkin of printing one off (a small version) and keeping it in my guitar case for motivational purposes.

[moxham123]

Definitely a great message. I work in many creative endeavors both within music and other projects. I once had a President of a company I worked for tell a creative team I was on that he would rather we went out and came up with things and tried them and failed than to sit and do nothing. The lesson being that at least we tried something and we would learn from what we did.

“YOUR ATTEMPT MAY FAIL, BUT NEVER FAIL TO MAKE AN ATTEMPT.”

There are 3 kinds of people,

People who make things happen,

People who watch things happen,

and people who wonder what happened!

[Banned]

That's a good idea! The Occupy folks need to stay creative and keep working at it.
Did you see that the Occupy Movement is twice as popular as a certain Astroturf corporate-sponsored media-driven movement? What happens when those people VOTE?!

http://articles.businessinsider.com/201 ... ly-polling

All 5000 of them? Maybe if they get multiple ballots.

If they all voted in Chicago, its worth at least 25,000 cast ballots.

[f.sciarrillo]

That's a good idea! The Occupy folks need to stay creative and keep working at it.
Did you see that the Occupy Movement is twice as popular as a certain Astroturf corporate-sponsored media-driven movement? What happens when those people VOTE?!

http://articles.businessinsider.com/201 ... ly-polling

Yeah, that shows that anti-Semitism, racism, rapes, murders, and vandalism is going up. Not to mention, the hippy movement is coming back. "All we are saying, is give peace a chance". Duh! Wrong protest!

i would take a tea party voter over a #Occupy voter anyday. At least the tea party know what they want. Where as an #occupy voters has no idea what they are protesting for.

[songsmith]

At least the tea party know what they want. Where as an #occupy voters has no idea what they are protesting for.

That must be a bummer that they don't spell it out on Fox. Let me help you again:
1. They want to end corporate interference in government.
2. They want business to act responsibly to employees, the community, and America.
3. They want the elite class to pay their fair share for the damage they have caused.
Why is that so hard to understand?
BTW, 5000 hippies might not be much of a threat to rightwing corporate entitlement... but 160 million worker-bees are.

Now, enough politics, let's talk about creativity... unless we can't think of anything to say on the subject.

I look at my own creative process as a treasure-hunt. I mine for gold everywhere, all the time... in conversation, on TV, in reading material... in the rhythm of the trains that pass my house, in the structure of old gospel songs, in the plotlines of sad stories I heard as a kid. It's everywhere, inspiration is, and you have to keep alert for it, and write it down. I have a VERY poor memory, and I've lost great ideas simply because I got distracted and the idea cooled off. Lots of people have a "Hook Book," I have a briefcase full of tiny pieces of paper, with ideas and song snippets written in very small handwriting, in case I have to write an entire song on a quarter-sheet of copier paper (which I've done many times). You just have to prepare for inspiration, and when it hits you, open yourself up and filter it through your own abilities, then do your best at creating something of quality. Lyrics are really just word-puzzles, you have a certain goal, and some rules for the game... figure out what you want to say, make it rhyme, make it fit in the music you have for it, it's not that hard. Not much different than learning an instrument, it's daunting at first, but if you sit with it in your lap long enough, and connect with it, something good's bound to happen.

[Jasaoke]

Alright, stay on topic.

"Do a lot of work" is GREAT advise. Regardless of your skill/trade/endeavor, the more you do it, the better you get.

[tornandfrayed]

10,000 hours.