This is the first post on my newly designed website, which I invite you to check out here. “Why exactly do you have a website?,” you ask? Please read on…
In most everything, but especially art, we celebrate those whose artistry rises so high above good as to be sublime. And bravo to those gifted few—the world is a richer place for the Michelangelo’s and DiVinci’s. But what about the rest of us who struggle to sketch an animal recognizable as a dog (or is that a cat)? Is it possible to find joy in doing things that we’re mediocre at, if not lousy? (See, for example, my cartoon for this post.)
I think so.
Maybe the first step is to simply follow the creative urge wherever it leads without judgment about whether what you’re doing is any good. I was amazed, for example, when the entire catalogue of Beatles recordings was released, how many of their songs were…well, not that great. (If it’s not heresy, listen to “Little Child.”) But I’m not sure they cared: making music was just what they did, and no matter that not everything was Yesterday.
For me, the hurdle is often just starting, sitting down with a pen and paper even if it feels like I have nothing to say. As has been said, “The secret to good writing is bad first drafts.” Then there’s self-judgment, and its evil twin, the-judgment-of-others. “This is terrible,” they say, or “My six-year-old could have done that.” Well, that’s probably true, but you know what? Your six-year-old can do that because they haven’t yet learned that you have to be good at something to enjoy it. They just do it, it goes up on the refrigerator, and everyone seems happy with that.
And if the way we think about this isn’t bad enough, now we have machines that can write for us, create images, “compose” songs, you name it, and we scarcely have to lift a finger. And so we have another technology heralded for what it can do for us, when we should be asking what is this doing to us?
Finally, if any further proof is needed, there’s this little bit of writing you’re reading right now (and everything else on this website), about which you might well think, “This isn’t particularly good.” And you would be right about that, I’d agree, but to that I tell myself, “So what?” I could have produced something better using ChatGPT, no matter. Creativity is good in and of itself, regardless of how good what gets created turns out to be. Of course, I try as best I can, and it feels good when I think something has turned out well and others like it, but I have to remember they’re probably just complimenting the finger painting of a dog on the refrigerator (or is that a cat?).
So, see what you think, leave a comment if you’re so moved, and what I’d really enjoy is you sharing something you’ve done.
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