G. Steve Journal

Do the Work Anyway

In keeping with last week's magic theme, here are some words of wisdom from "Billions" showrunner Brian Koppelman:

If you do any kind of creative work, there will be days you sit down to do it, and have the creeping feeling that the magic just isn't there. that the spark isn't. but if you do the work anyway, you might forget that there's no magic. and suddenly, the magic might show up.

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When the Magic Comes

...you learn your craft as much as you can so that when the magic comes swimming down the river you have the net to catch it.

                                                                                                                    – Mitski

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Simply Contemplate

I love this spot-on advice from the late Sister Wendy Beckett, the nun who had an art appreciation show on TV years ago. I'd suggest that this frame of mind is equally important to cultivate during the creation of art as well:

Faced with the [art]work, we must try to dispel all the busy suggestions of the mind and simply contemplate the object in front of us. The mind and its facts come in later, but the first, though prepared, experience should be as undefended, as innocent, and as humble as we can make it.

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