Smart People Podcast
Got out of college Became a librarian (This was the advice he got from profs. To get a part-time job and do art. That time was his mfa) Started blackout poems then blogged them Got a job in web design and applied it to his own site Editor contacted him to publish blackout poems Started fine art prints Speaking gigs Got a job as a copywriting job Invited for a convocation speech Shared 10 things he wanted to hear when he was in college Published his talk in blog and went viral Quit copywriting job because of Steal earnings
Always have a day job no matter what
Save a lot of money and live cheap.
Quit his copywriting job because his employers did not allow him to go to a book tour and get an unpaid leave for two months.
You can’t connect the dots looking forward. Just backwards.
Pay attention to what is bothering you in your current job. That could tell you want to take on next.
You should be first, great, or different.
The way to be original is to suck up influence as much as you can.
Steal is about how to set up a life.
Monitor the response to your work and do things with that response.
Let people into your process.
You can’t get validation from external sources. And that goes right with both positive and negative feedback.
Figure out what you can learn from both positive and negative feedback then know how you can use them.
To avoid your geneaology from being homogenous, pick a thinker with an entirely different take and do the same geneaology. Directed way of studying your form.
Creative work is about establishing where you are in relation to other creatives. Are you part of a tradition or not?
Steal but use it as a starting point.
Ezda Pond. Make it new. Take all that you stole and do something that was not done before.
If you really love something. Take it and transform it to something new.
Honor the works that inspired you by taking them to the next level.
Steal but move your form forward. Are you improving things?
Design matters
Dont choose. Have all your passions together and get them talking. That’s how you form a life.
Sometimes the best part of creativity is not the response you get but the act of creating.
Quit music and art in college to focus on writing.
Took an interdisciplinary course with philosophy. Wanted to be a professor.
Wanted to explore comics.
Anyone who is a successful artist who does not acknowledge the role of luck to his success makes a disservice to everyone.
Poems and comics are great because you can put them in the fridge.
Chase Jarvis
Most of creative process is surrender
Get clear about what you really want to do based on what your interests are and what you are good at.
If your right and left hemispheres fight a lot and u r good with both structure and flow and image and words, you are probably a good poet. That should tell you were best to stay in the art world.
Dont think about what to add. Think about what you can take away to make space to what u really want to do.
What did your heroes not do?
If they jammed together, what will they do?
You need deadlines. You need constraints. Because your creative work will never end.
Train like an animal
The people that inspire me are not from my location
Steal from people in other disciplines
Give yourself time to explore (for creativity)
“Creativity is the residue of time wasted.”
Death and deadlines
Protecting your time is your job
Be as generous as you can while doing the work
You just want your work to be everywhere
Give yourself constraints when starting to create. It is freeing.
Linda Bright
Marie Carr
The ability to use the delete key can destroy creativity
If you want to be good at art you need to be a whole human being