Paul Simon

"A song I was writing is left undone.  I don't know why I spend my time writing songs I can't believe."

— Paul Simon

American Musician

1941 -

As I write this I am listening to the songs of Simon and Garfunkel, one of my favorite groups.  Like many people, I was disappointed when they broke up.  I loved their songs which defined the world for me when I was a teenager.  I loved the lyrics.  I stopped following either musician after they broke up.  I probably should have followed Simon since he was the creative genius behind the group.  The above lyrics come from Kathy's Song, which he wrote in 1965 while in England.

Do you have any creative work left unfinished?  A painting?  A poem?  A novel?  I do.  I have a novel I spent 4 years writing, but never finished.  I also have several short stories.  These days I tend to write my poems in one sitting with little or no rewriting.

Do you believe in what you create or do you like Simon in these lyrics doubt what you have created?  Have you lost faith in your creative skills?  

Here is Simon and Garfunkel singing Kathy's Song.  Enjoy.

Edith Wharton

"True originality consists not in a new manner but in a new vision."

— Edith Wharton

American Novelist

1862 - 1937

What is your vision for your art?  Your writing?  Do you even have a vision?  Or do you have no idea of what you want to achieve?  When I talk about vision, I am also talking about purpose.  What is your purpose for being on this earth?  What is the reason you exist?  Why are you here?  Are you going to leave this world a better place when you pass beyond the veil?

My vision for my life is very simple:  I choose to plant seeds of hope in the hearts of others.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we will not find it."

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

American Poet, Speaker, Writer

1803 - 1882

People often think they are unhappy and dissatisfied because of their external circumstances.  They dream of moving to the city of their dreams, finding the ideal job, or winning the lottery.  What they don't realize is that no amount of money will make them happy if they are not happy on the inside.  Living life is an inside job.  Happiness begins with self-acceptance and belief in oneself.  

James Salter

"I decided to write or perish.  It was like starting life from scratch."

— James Salter

American Novelist

1925 -

Watch this video about James Salter.  How committed are you to your art?  What are you willing to sacrifice?  What are you willing to do?  What are you going to create this week?

Socrates

"Our youth now love luxury.  They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for their elders and love chatter in place of exercise; they no longer rise when elders enter the room; they contradict their parents, chatter before company; gobble up their food and tyrannize their teachers."

— Socrates

Greek Philosopher

469 BC - 399 BC

I first discovered this quote on a large poster in 1968 when I was a college student.  At the time my generation was being criticized for being hippies and many said we would never amount to anything.  I learned a valuable lesson that day — every new generation is criticized by their elders and told they would never amount to anything.  And while some may die young, most grow-up and become the elders of the next generation.

The other lesson to take from this quote is to be careful about listening to critics — they often get it wrong.  Don't let the critics dominate your life and your art.  Avoid them where possible and ignore what they say if you can't.  Artists and writers have been destroyed by the critics in their lives.  Some never pick up a pen or paint brush again.  Listen to your inner voice, not the voices of your external critics.

Scott Adams

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes.  Art is knowing which ones to keep."

— Scott Adams

American Cartoonist

1957 -

Madeleine L"Engle

"Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or sing or write, for only in such a response do we find truth."

— Madeleine L'Engle

American Writer

1918 - 2007

John Cage

"The emotions - love, mirth, the heroic, wonder, tranquility, fear, anger, sorrow, disgust - are in the audience."

— John Cage

American Composer, Author and Artist

1912 - 1992

The act of creation is an emotional act.  We write because we need to express our emotions.  We paint because we need to express how we feel.  We sing because our hearts are crying.  And we connect with our audience because they too feel what we feel.  Novelists and poets fail when their work become too cerebral, too much about ideas.  Novelists are at their best when they tell a story that connects with emotions of their audiences.

Santoka Taneda

"Real haiku is the soul of poetry.  Anything that is not actually present in one's heart is not haiku."

— Santoka Taneda

Japanese Haiku Poet

1882 - 1940

Harley King

"The more I try to be perfect; 
the more I fail."

— Harley King

American Poet, Speaker, Storyteller

1949 —

Much of my life, I have tried to be perfect: the perfect son, the perfect student, the perfect husband, the perfect father, the perfect writer, the perfect speaker and the perfect employee.  But I failed every time.  I have never been able to live up to the image I had myself or that others had of me.

And most people can not live up to the images that other people have of them.  I am sure that you have favorite writers or artists whose work you love.  Yet, if you ever read a biography of the person, you realize that he was not as good in his personal life as you imagined  him to be.  All our heroes have clay feet.

It has taken me years, but I have made progress.  I worry less today about being perfect.  In fact, I have learned to celebrate my failures.  And to enjoy making mistakes.  It is okay to be human.

How about you?  Are you a perfectionist?  Are you trying to live up to the image that others have you?  Or have you let go of your need to be the perfect writer?  The perfect painter?  The perfect singer?  Do you celebrate your mistakes?

And to help us celebrate this summer, here are a few of my summer haiku.

lightning bugs

    flicker in the neighbor's lawn . . .

        another June gone

at the crack of the bat

    the crowd roars to its feet . . .

        full moon tonight

family picnic —

    lightning bugs

        among the voices

heat wave —

    sharing watermelon

        with friends

a monarch lights

    on my sweat-covered arm . . .

        and is gone

Matsuo Basho

"When composing a verse let there not be a hair's breath separating your mind from what you write; composition of a poem must be done in an instant, like a woodcutter felling a huge tree or a swordsman leaping at a dangerous enemy."

— Matsuo Basho

Japanese Haiku Poet

1644 - 1694

The act of creation should be done with little forethought.  Too much planning can destroy the creativity.  Create in the moment.  Create in an instant.  Like the swordsman or the woodcutter, the poet does not need to think about what he creates.  He creates in the moment.  This does not mean that he has not studied or practiced his art.  Hours, days and even years may have been spent in practicing and improving his skill.  But in the moment of creation he is one with the creation.  He does not think.  He creates from the heart, not the head.  A poem composed in the head is like an empty shell.  A poem composed in the heart will touch the reader.

Norman Vincent Peale

"People become really quite remarkable when they start thinking that they can do things.  When they believe in themselves they have the first secret of success."

— Norman Vincent Peale

American Author, Minister

1898 - 1993

Beginning writers and artists often have doubts about their talents and abilities.  Even seasoned writers who have published multiple books may still have doubts when they begin a new book.  "Do I still have what it takes?  Can I pull it off again?"  Fear and doubt are normal responses to some new activity.  If we allow ourselves to wallow in self-doubt, we will never accomplish anything.  We must find a way to believe in ourselves and our abilities.  The secret to success is belief.  Do you believe in yourself?  What are you doing to eliminate doubt in yourself?

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

"Creativity is a central source of meaning in our lives . . . most of the things that are interesting, important, and human are the results of creativity . . . when we are involved in it, we feel that we are living more fully than during the rest of life."

— Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Hungarian Author, Psychology Professor

1934 -

One of the things that makes us unique as human beings is our creativity.  We have a desire to create something beyond ourselves — to leave something of ourselves behind.  I have often thought that if I could not write, could not express myself creatively, that I would be very depressed and may even die.  I am happiest when I am in the midst of creating something — whether that be a story, a poem or a speech.  When I am creating the ideas flow through me and I struggle to capture them all.  Some slip through my fingers like water.  Others are planted in the soil of my mind and take root.  When are you happiest?

Harper Lee

"Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read.  One does not love breathing."

— Harper Lee

American Novelist

1926 -

Often we take things we do for granted and it is not until we lose them that we realize how important they were.  We do this with people and relationships.  We take them for granted until one day they are no longer in our lives.  Our ability to see is another thing we take for granted until we almost lose it.  I recently underwent cataract surgery and for the first time I came face to face with not being able to see.  

Do you take your ability to write for granted?  Harper Lee wrote and published the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, which was a commercial and critical success.  While she has since published a few essays, she never published another novel or any work of non-fiction.  And only she knows why she never finished another novel.  One could ask whether she lost her ability or desire to write.   

Do you take your ability to write for granted?  Do you take your ability to paint for granted?  How about your ability to sing?  Or act?  Or speak?  Don't take anything for granted.  Appreciate what you have.

Here are writers talking about the leading character of To Kill a Mockingbird.

Aristide Maillol

"Carving is a source of joy to the artist. . . . To attack the raw material, gradually to extract a shape out of it following one's own desire, or, sometimes, the inspiration of the material itself: this gives the sculptor great joy."

—Aristide Maillol

French Sculptor

1861 - 1944

Summer
1910 - 11

Does your creative work bring you joy?  Do you become lost in the moment?  To create something out of nothing should make you happy.  It is a gift that you have been given.  Accept the gift and enjoy it.  Enjoy the work that you do.  

Does the work you create inspire you as you are creating it?  When I am writing a story I become caught up in the moment and become excited by the ideas that are flowing through my mind.  I find joy in writing.

Barbara Streisand

"I learned you have to trust yourself, be what you are, and do what you ought to do the way you should do it.  You have got to discover you, what you do, and trust it."

— Barbara Streisand

American Singer, Actress

1942 -

Learning to trust one's instinct is probably one of the most difficult tasks that every artist needs to learn at some point in one's career.  This trust goes deep to the very core of one's being.  Trust begins by discovering who you are and accepting yourself.  Trust comes with time and experience.  

When I speak to an audience, I have learned to trust my instincts — to listen to that small voice inside and do what it asks me to do even when I don't know why.  The times I run into problems are when I question that voice and don't listen to it.  

Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

"Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought."

— Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

Hungarian Physiologist / Writer

1893 - 1986

This is one of my favorite quotes on creativity.  The creative person looks the world and  sees the same things as everyone else, but he thinks something different.  He puts two and two together and comes up with five.  He thinks what nobody else has thought.  What are you seeing today that you could look at in a different way?  Sometimes we need to rethink how we see things.  Are you stumped by a problem?  Take a step back and look at it from a different angle.  Explore other ways to think about the situation.  Find other solutions to the problem.

John Ruskin

John Ruskin
Painted by John Everett Millais
1853-54

"The highest reward for a person's toil is not what they get by it, but what they become by it."

— John Ruskin

English Author / Art Critic

1819 - 1900

The pursuit of the arts is not about what we get but what we become.  While we realize that we create the paintings and the poems, what we don't realize is that the act of the creation has an impact on whom we become.  Painting changes the artist and writing changes the writer.  The art of creation allows us to workout our demons and our angels.  Some writers give too much to their writing and are destroyed by what they create.  Others find themselves in their writing and become better people.  Which are you?  Has your creative work made you a better person or has the creative process destroyed the humanity within your spirit?  Are you better today than you were a year ago?  Ten years ago?  How will you be different tomorrow?

Thomas Edison

"Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration."

— Thomas Edison

American Inventor 

1847 - 1931

Beginning writers and artists often say they only work when they are inspired.  The result is they produce very little work.  Eventually, they either quit creating or they learn that writing and painting is more perspiration than they are inspiration.  I have read of stories of novelists who throw away the first 50 or 100 pages.  Sometimes we have to write and write until we find what we are supposed to be writing about.  Some writers write for years with nothing to show for it.  Edison, one of the greatest creative geniuses, says that creativity is 99% perspiration and only 1% inspiration.  Don't spend anymore time waiting for lightning to strike.  Paint every day even when you don't want to climb out bed.  Write every day even when you don't feel like it.

Eleanor Roosevelt

Roosevelt speaking
at the United Nations
July 1947

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."

— Eleanor Roosevelt

American Speaker, Author

1884 - 1962

Do you believe in your dreams?  Do you believe in the opportunities that can and will come into your life?  Each of us makes our own future by believing in our dreams.  When we give up on our dreams, we die a slow waking death.  Never give up on your dreams.  What you believe in you can achieve.  What you doubt will be cast aside and forgotten.  The dreams that you have been given are yours to achieve.  Nothing is impossible if you believe.