Marva Collins

"Success doesn't come to you . . . you go to it."

— Marva Collins

American Educator

1936 -

Many people desire success — dream about success, but few are willing to put in the work necessary to be successful.  We hear in the news about people being overnight successes only to find out they had been creating in the shadows for years.  Overnight success is a rarity.  Most people spend years honing their craft before they achieve success.  

If you are waiting at the bus stop for success to pick you up and take you on the trip of your life, forget it.  It is not going to happen.  Get off the bench and start walking.  Soon you will be running and eventually you will be driving your own car.  Success comes to him who works hard and long.

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Mary Frank

"There are times when I can't work, can't do anything.  I can't concentrate, I get scattered, feel I'm dying . . . ."

— Mary Frank

English Artist

1933 -

Being a creative leader is very challenging and many times we work against ourselves.  Our minds find excuses why we can't work.   What we don't realize is that this down time is actually good for us because it helps us create.  We need the down time even if we feel guilty about it.  For a five year period after I was diagnosed with prostate cancer, I was very productive, often writing two poems a day or more.  The last two years I have seen my productivity dwindle.  There are days now where I don't write a single poem, but that is okay because my mind and heart need to replenish themselves.  Sure, sometimes I feel guilty, but I know one day I will return to work.  I have had years where I have written 700 - 800 poems and other years where I write 40 - 50.  Am I being lazy?  No, I am recharging my creative batteries.

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David St. John

"There were times when depression, anxiety, whatever, would keep me from writing.  I still get depressed and anxious, but I just don't let it stop me.  I've learned to move it to one side if I want to work."

— David St. John

American Poet

1949 - 

Sometimes we let our emotional and mental states become excuses for why we are not working.  We tell ourselves that we are too tired, too agitated, too depressed, too unhappy, too nervous, too worried or too upset.  The work must continue no matter how we feel.  We must work through the emotion and the pain.  We must keep working and not let our feelings become a barrier.

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Albert Einstein

"Creativity is the residue of time wasted."

—  Albert Einstein

German Theoretical Physicist

1879 - 1955

Do you waste time?  Or spend time daydreaming?  Do you take walks alone?  Or sit thinking about nothing?  Does your family think that you are lazy and won't amount to anything.  Contrary to popular opinion, a little bit of laziness is good for the creative soul.  By relaxing and being silly, we actually free our creative spirits from the shackles of the Puritan work ethic.  As the old saying goes:  all work and no play makes Jack a very boring lad.  Play is fertilizer for the creative spirit.  So why are you sitting here in  front of a computer?  Go play.  Daydream.  

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Charles Dickens

"I never could have done what I have done without the habits of punctuality, order, and diligence, without the determination to concentrate myself on one subject at a time."

Charles Dickens

English Novelist

1812 - 1870

What are your work habits?  Do you meet deadlines?  Are you able to focus and concentrate on what you are doing?  While no two people have the same work habits, you can learn to improve your work habits by studying the habits of others.  Are you organized?  Do you have a system for keeping track of your work?  There is also the business side of creative work.  You have to be of two minds — the creative mind and business mind.  Do you know how to promote yourself?  To sell your work?  What are your habits?  How can you improve your habits?  Do you rise at 5 am before everyone else wakes up?  Do you work best at night?  Do you listen to music or do you prefer silence?  Do you take long walks to clear your mind and energize your creative juices?

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Emile Zola

"The artist is nothing without a gift, but the gift is nothing without work."

— Emile Zola

French Writer

1840 -1902

Many have wasted the gifts they have been given.  Some will go a lifetime and never realize the gifts they have been given.  A gift by and of itself is not enough.  Even the gifted have to work to perfect their art.  One cannot get by on just the gift.  Hours of work and preparation are needed to create the masterpiece that will live for centuries in the hearts of others.  Often those without a gift can produce great work if they work hard.  When I was in college the question on the mind of every want-to-be artist and writer was: "Do I have talent?  Am I gifted?"  We sought the answer in the words of our professors.  Unfortunately, they often could not predict who had the gift and who was willing to work hard enough to perfect their craft.  Nobody else can answer the question for you.  Only you can answer the questions:  Do you have the talent?  Are you willing to work hard to perfect that talent?

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Edouard Manet

"I need to work to feel well."

— Edouard Manet

French Artist

1832 - 1883

A Bar at the Folies-Bergere
(1982)

If I go too long without writing, I feel it in my soul, not my body.  I feel something is missing — that my life is out of whack.  And the only way to bring everything back into balance is to put pen to paper.  I have been writing for 36 years and I know I will continue to write as long as I can breathe and my mind is sound.  I met a man once who was writing his first book at 101.  When I saw him two years later, he was working on his second book.  Creative people have a need to produce creative works.  A number of actors have turned to painting in their later years.  Some current actors are writing novels.  Writers turn to painting and painters turn to poetry.

What happens when you stop painting or writing?  Can you feel the change in your soul?  In your bones?  Do you feel yourself drawn back to work?

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Stephen King

"If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: 

read a lot and write a lot."

— Stephen King

American Novelist

1947 - 

The key to being successful in any of the artistic endeavors is practice.  If you want to be a writer, then write every day.  Write thousands upon thousands of words.  Spend more time writing than rewriting.  Keep creating day in and day out.  Also read every day.  Read and study other authors.  

If you want to be a painter, then paint every day.  Draw thousands of pictures.  Paint thousands of pictures.  Success comes from practice.  And study the paintings of other painters.  Study the masters.  Visit the art museums.  

For most of us, the practice of our chosen craft does not come easy.  We must practice, practice and practice.

Here is Stephen King talking about writing.

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Henri Matisse

"Every day that dawns is a gift to me and I take it that way.  I accept it gratefully without looking beyond it . . . . I think only of the joy of seeing the sun rise once more and of being able to work a little bit, even under difficult conditions."

— Henri Matisse

French Artist

1869 - 1954

Each day we live is a gift that we often forget to be thankful for.  We become so busy with the hundreds of tasks that we have to do that we lose sight of the fact that life is a blessing.  Matisse wrote these words after a second operation from which he did not expect to wake.  Even though he was physically in pain, he found joy in being able to paint.  Each day is a gift.  Are you living it to the fullest?  Are you grateful for the life you have?  Does your creative work bring you joy?

La Musique

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Robert Mapplethorpe

Self-Portrait
(1980)

"My work is about seeing — seeing things like they haven't been seen before."

— Robert Mapplethorpe

American Photographer

1946 - 1989

One of main functions of any art form is to help people see something they had not seen before — to open their eyes to new ways of viewing the world.  Does your creative work shed new light on the way we view the world?  Does it help us see beyond our small private worlds and help us grasp a greater meaning about life?

Part of our role as creative leaders is to show people that there are multiple ways of viewing the world in which we live.  There is not just one reality but multiple realities.  Great art changes people in multiple ways.  Our hearts and minds open and begin to see in ways we have never seen.

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Pearl Buck

"I never look at the papers again.  My secretary types them out and my husband edits them.  I never had anything more to do with a book until it is published . . . . I cannot stand to read over anything I write.  My husband takes care of everything for me except the first draft.  He works in the other half of the house."

— Pearl Buck

American Novelist

1892 - 1973

I am fascinated by the work habits of writers and artists.  Each one is unique and different and brings a special insight to the creative process.  We all find ways to draw on the creative spirit when we need it.

Pearl Buck was American born, but raised in poverty-stricken rural China by missionary parents and her Chinese nanny.  Her father, Absalom, was always traveling, attempting to convert the Chinese with little success.  He had ten converts in ten years.  Her mother, Carie,  buried most of her children in China and filled Pearl's heart with stories of America.  Her nanny, Wang Amah, filled her mind with tales of demons, dragons and spirits.  Educated in an American college, Buck returned to China with her husband, John Lossing Buck, only to be abandon for months at a time by her traveling husband, much like her mother was.  Both her father and her husband were obsessed with work.  Her father wanted to spread the word of God and her husband was passionate about Chinese farming.

Pearl Buck began writing at age 35.  Always a storyteller, Buck's most famous second novel, The Good Earth, was published in 1931 when she was 39 and she was honored with a Pulitzer Prize.  In 1938 she became the first American woman to receive the Nobel Prize for literature.  She published 38 novels, 16 collections of short stories, and 11 works of non-fiction between 1930 - 1974, sometimes as many as two books a year.

Hilary Spurling, in her biography, Pearl Buck in China, says: She spent every morning at her desk, emerging exhausted, dazed, and stupefied from these sessions with what she called her book people, or sometimes her real people.  She wrote longhand without revision or correction, seldom pausing, covering page after page at phenomenal speed in a small compact script, producing on average 2,500 words at a sitting."  She gave her manuscript to her second husband and publisher, Richard Walsh, who edited them for publication.

Every creative leader has different work habits.  What are yours? 

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George Sand

"The ease (of writing) increases with age, and thus I do not allow myself to work at this more than two or three months of each year. . . . Indeed I only write two or three hours per day, and the interior work is done while I scribble away at my watercolors."

— George Sand

French Novelist

1804 - 1876

Some writers struggle to write after early success.  The second and third novel are difficult to write.  Other writers are prolific.  They adopt a pseudonym so they can publish more.  Some writers face writer's block and struggle to write.

Like Sand, I have found it easier to write the older I become.  When I was young, everything had to be perfect.  So I struggled to find the right word, the right metaphor.  Perfection is not my goal today.  I just want to get the story down on paper.  I can sit anywhere and I write — even in a noisy mall or a quiet art museum.

What about you?  Is writing easy?  Or do you struggle to put words on paper?  Do artists struggle to paint?  I have come to art later in life so I am not trying for the perfect painting.  I enjoy the process of creating a painting or a sculpture.  And I don't worry about others because I am not looking to sell the piece.  I am painting to relax my spirit — to make me feel good.

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Naomi Shihab Nye

"I love the solitude of reading.  I love the deep dive into someone else's story, the delicious ache of a last page."

— Naomi Shihab Nye

American Poet, Novelist

1952 - 

One of the great joys of life is reading novels.  From the first page to the last, I enter another world and explore the lives of people who I don't know.  From a very young age I have enjoyed reading novels.  And as Nye says, sometimes I don't want to close the book after I finished the last page.  I don't want the novel to be over.  

I believe we ought to applaud anyone who finishes a novel whether he publishes it or not.  Writing a novel is a lot of work.  I spent four years working on a novel that I have never finished.  John Cheever spent over twenty years writing his first novel.  Some novelists can turn out a book or more a year.  Piers Anthony, author of 36 novels in the Xanth series, works on three novels at the same time.  He is outlining one book, writing a second book, and rewriting a third book.  Are you working on a novel?  Please share your experience with others who read this blog.

If you are not a reader of novels, I would highly recommend it.  In the right hand column of this blog, you can find fourteen of my favorite novels.  Dive into one of these novels and experience the joy of entering another world.

Here is Naomi reading her found poem, One Boy Told Me.  Don't skip this.

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Jerry Uelsmann

"I try to  begin working with no preconceived ideas."

— Jerry Uelsmann

American Photographer

1934 -

I have found that there are two ways that creative leaders work.  Some writers, artists, photographers plan their work.  Some writers will outline their entire book before starting to write.  Some artists will have planned their entire painting before painting the final work.  They will even do sketches of what they want to create.

Other creative leaders begin without any preconceived ideas.  They let the creative muse direct where they are going.  They start writing and let the story develop over time.  They start painting and wait to see what happens.

What are your working habits?  Do you plan everything in advance?  Or do you let the muse dictate where you are going?  Or do you do some combination of the two.

Here is a video of some of Uelsmann's surrealistic photography.

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Joyce Cary

"For the essential thing about the work of art is that it is work, and very hard work too."

— Joyce Cary

Irish Novelist

1888 - 1957

What most people who are not writers or painters don't understand is how much work it takes to create a work of art.  Writers appear to spend hours doing nothing.  What people don't see is what is going on in the mind.  The mind is working double overtime.  Even families of writers often don't have any clue about what is going on in the mind of the writer.  Sometimes the conscious mind must do nothing so the subconscious mind can connect the dots.  And when the subconscious is finished, it pushes the idea into the conscious.  Often the writer feels like the idea came out of nowhere.  And the same can be said about painters, storytellers, musicians and other creative leaders.

Unlike many people who work a nine to five job, a creative leader cannot turn off his mind.  Part of him is always working — whether he is grilling chicken, washing clothes or changing the oil in the car.  Writing and painting are 24/7 types of jobs.  You are never off-duty, even when you are having a beer with your buddies.  So don't let your family and  friends put you down because they think you are not working.  You are probably working harder than them.

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Jim Dine

Self-Portrait in Cambridge #4
(1979)

"I work every day.  I work all day.  I've never had a holiday.  It's all I really want to do.  It's what I'm here for. . . . More and more, I'm just so grateful I was born an artist."

— Jim Dine

American Artist

1935 -

Are you grateful that you were born an artist, a creative leader?  Do you appreciate the gifts of creativity that you have been given?  It is a privilege to be an artist — to have the opportunity to create works of art.  Give thanks every day for what you have been given.

What are your work habits?  Do you enjoy working?  Do you do some work every day?  An artist is always working?  He may not have a brush or pen in hand, but his mind never stops.  Everything he sees and hears goes into his creative subconscious and eventually finds its way into the creative work.  Celebrate the work.  Give thanks for the opportunity to work.

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Henry Miller

Self-Portrait
(1943)

"Paint what you like and die happy."

— Henry Miller

American Novelist, Painter

1891 - 1980

The message here is simple and direct:  do what you like.  Too often we don't do what we like.  Nor do we learn to like what we do.  And then people become unhappy with their lives and they spend their time complaining.  Don't let others dictate what is important for you.  

And I am not telling you to run away from your spouse and children and join an artist colony where you spend every day either painting or writing.  We all have responsibilities and we should not shirk them.  If you get married, you have made a commitment and you need to live up to it.  If you bring children into this world, you have a responsibility to raise, educate and care for them.  Doing what you love does not mean avoiding your responsibilities.  Doing what you love means finding 30 minutes or 60 minutes where you do what you want to do — where you do what you love to do.  Then you can die happy.

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Odani Motohiko

"I used to find that idea of an ever changing, impalpable style appealing, but now I want to concentrate on the things I ought to be doing, the things that only I can do.  The result I hope will be works that like the Buddhist statues of the past will be capable of communicating with people for centuries to come."

Odani Motohiko

Japanese Artist

1972 -

Are you doing the creative work that you ought to be doing — that only you can do?  In today's world it is easy to get sidetracked and caught up in projects that have nothing to do with our true work.  There are many people and things that demand our attention and time.  If you don't know what creative work you are supposed to be doing it is easy to get lost.  Do you have a vision of the work that you should be doing?  Do you stay focused or are you easily distracted?

Will the creative work that you are doing still be communicating to generations to come?  Or will your work be forgotten as soon as you leave this world?  No one can predict which poems, or paintings or sculptures will last for centuries and which are meant for the dustbins of time.  Many artists and writers dream and hope that their creative works will give them immortality.    

To see more of Odani Motohiko's creative work, check out this site:

www.voiceyourtemper.com/obsess-were-obsessed/artgraffiti/430-odani-motohiko-sculptures

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Paul Klee

"Nothing can be rushed.  It must grow, it should grow of itself . . ."

— Paul Klee

Swiss Painter

1879 -1940

The creative process cannot be rushed or forced.  It must evolve at its own rate.  Sometimes it moves slowly and other times with the speed of light.  And the creative process cannot be managed or controlled.  It has a mind of its own.  You cannot flip a switch and suddenly be creative.  Some writers and artists have rituals they hope will invoke the creative muse to  visit them, but the rituals usually don't work.  Deadlines will not pressure the creative muse to appear.  And neither will procrastination.  The creative process takes its own sweet time.  Some take drugs hoping to break down the walls and release the imprisoned muse.  They are deluded.  

So what can we do?  Work.  And work some more.  Work when you feel creative.  Work when you feel terrible.  The key is to keep working even if what you produce is worthless.  The creative muse demands it.

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Nicholas Sparks

"When you chase a dream, you learn about yourself.  You learn your capabilities and limitations, and the value of hard work and persistence."

— Nicholas Sparks

American Novelist

1965 - 

Do you have what it takes to chase a dream?  Not everyone is willing to go the distance — to pay the price that success demands.  But whether you succeed or fail, you will gain insight and understanding into yourself.  And maybe what you learn is more important than winning the race.  We all have strengths and weaknesses, capabilities and limitations.  Most people work to improve their weaknesses.  I recommend that you focus on improving your strengths.  You may work for a lifetime to fix your limitations and still not overcome them.  Better to focus your energy on perfecting your strengths.  You don't have as far to travel and the success is more rewarding.

Here is Nicholas Sparks with some tips on writing.

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