This morning as I was scrolling and sipping coffee (as one does on a Thursday morning) FB showed me this piece I wrote for my friend, Steve Weins last year. I chuckled into my coffee cup as I read it again, not because my words were particularly clever, but because the whole piece was about editing, about sacrificing our most precious and self-indulgent pieces for the overall good of our work (metaphor for life somewhere in there, I think?) and as I read it, the irony of how much I have yet to learn about “killing my darlings” was not lost on me.
It’s a process, yes?
Speaking of processes, the whole piece made me think of you guys. Of how you’re doing over there on the other side of this screen.
We’ve talked a lot about the “creative process” lately. I wonder what you think of when you hear those words?
Do you think of paintbrushes on canvas, words on a page, music notes being played, scenes being rehearsed? Do you think of art as some kind of bold and intimidating word?
?? I used to.
I used to think that I wasn’t a creative person at all. I wasn’t even mad about it, really. I just always put art in a box and when I didn’t see myself fitting into that box, I assumed I didn’t have anything to offer in the creative arena. (Sometimes I am not very smart.)
But if there’s anything I’m learning, it’s that our whole lives are a creative process.
It’s that “art” can look like a keen sense of humor, like food arranged on a plate, like bringing order to chaos in our homes, like the rare ability to make people feel included, welcome, and seen.
It can look anything and nothing like what you expected.
But at the end of the day, your art is your art. My art is my art. I can’t do yours for you and you can’t do mine for me.
Yet the world waits, desperately needing all of it.
I wonder what creative process you find yourself in right now?
Whatever it is, I hope you find the courage to kill your darlings along the way. And I hope you have the audacity to enjoy the process too, because the process is your actual life.
If you’d like to read the piece that made me think of you this morning, click the photo or link below!??
Love you guys.Kill Your Darlings
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