All Art is a Messy, Imperfect Process

Take a minute and try to connect the dots on how you came up with your last idea.

Unless you have an emotional intelligence shooting off the charts (or you’re a big, fat liar) you’ll likely stammer your way through, trying to map back every influence, color, movie, book or flavor of ice cream which led you to your recent creation.

I couldn’t have predicted my watching Harry Potter at age 13 would have led to this popular post.

Nor would I have thought having few friends in high school would have led to this post (which got me on this show).

For the most part, my artistic career has felt more like “pin the tail on the neuron” than any sort of conscious process.

What I have learned, though, is this:

You can’t connect the dots until you put some on the page.

Microjournaling allows me to be conscious of everything I’m learning.

Will I use anything I write down? Maybe. Maybe not.

Will I get any significant breakthroughs by scribbling thoughts with my coffee? Maybe Maybe not.

Every time you face the blank screen it’s another challenge. Every time you begin, you are a nobody creating art for the first time, looking into the void.

Every time you show up, you must romance the Muse.

Only then will she let you dance.

Thanks, Sarah, for giving me a chance to expand on all this :)

— TB