(Pic #1) Detail, Eucalyptus carving. Photograph. Carpinteria Bluffs Nature Preserve. Shooting urban decay is my happy place.
Two words that can change everything.
It’s a battle I face pretty much every day: The conflict between “the artist’s need” to create — and the natural instinct to just be a lazy loser. If there’s something cool going on with the cats, you might guess which way I lean. But part of the problem for me has always been that sometimes my goals are so massive, that they become unachievable.
A recent piece in the L.A.Times profiled a woman physician who always wanted to be a “writing doctor.” There are a number of famous ones — like my favorite Russian short story writer, Anton Chekhov. But as time went on, and hundred-hour workweeks sucked the life out of her in medical school, the plan just didn’t happen. “Write my book” appeared on her to-do lists for 30 years.
She then approached a successful writing doctor who told her sometimes it was just “too overwhelming to try to figure out where to begin our life’s work.” He then shared two simple words changed her life —- “Start small.” She said she realized she wanted to be published in The Times before she had “done the time.” She added, “It took seven years of postgraduate education to become a doctor — so why did I think becoming a serious writer would be any different?”
Such a common quirk among artists: We too often focus on the end product over the process — the finished piece in our hand — not the experience. The accomplished ones know that any decent achievement begins with a small action — every single day. In the doctor’s words, “It shouldn’t have been “write my book” — but simply, “Write.”
