Practicing Process

Kirby Ferguson did a beautiful TEDtalk that expands on some ideas Austin Kleon ruminates on, which is that everything we create is a remix. In addition to the TEDtalk Ferguson did, there is a short documentary he put together on the same topic. Both are worth experiencing, without a doubt.

"We are not self-made. We are dependent on one another. Admitting this to ourselves isn't an embrace of mediocrity and derivativeness, it's a liberation from our misconceptions."

Kirby Ferguson's TEDtalk

SIX WRITING TIPS FROM JOHN STEINBECK

1. Abandon the idea that you are ever going to finish. Lose track of the 400 pages and write just one page for each day, it helps. Then when it gets finished, you are always surprised.

2. Write freely and as rapidly as possible and throw the whole thing on paper. Never correct or rewrite until the whole thing is down. Rewrite in process is usually found to be an excuse for not going on. It also interferes with flow and rhythm which can only come from a kind of unconscious association with the material.

3. Forget your generalized audience. In the first place, the nameless, faceless audience will scare you to death and in the second place, unlike the theater, it doesn’t exist. In writing, your audience is one single reader. I have found that sometimes it helps to pick out one person—a real person you know, or an imagined person and write to that one.

4. If a scene or a section gets the better of you and you still think you want it—bypass it and go on. When you have finished the whole you can come back to it and then you may find that the reason it gave trouble is because it didn’t belong there.

5. Beware of a scene that becomes too dear to you, dearer than the rest. It will usually be found that it is out of drawing.

6. If you are using dialogue—say it aloud as you write it. Only then will it have the sound of speech.

This is an interesting article about prominent artist's extra-curricular projects, or at least projects they weren't as well known for. What's most fascinating perhaps, is that history will remember many artists for what is considered their "trademark" work, however it's through creating different types of work that we hone what eventually becomes our most seminal work. Author David Bayles captures this beautifully in, Art and Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking

PRACTICING PROCESS is the name that I have assigned the undefined project I started in March of 2014. It will remain vague until the work and process informs itself. This is a space where I will collect and share my research, curation, and display some interesting findings. This is simply a place to publicly share my work without being attached to an outcome. If you enjoy it, it helps, or you find anything interesting, feel free to reach out.

Be well, humans!

All of the love,