With the "labour and wait" idea, what's interesting is that the work itself does not change during the waiting period. My good friend who is a cartoonist and writer once said that it's you that changes in the interim, you are never exactly the same person who created the work as time passes.
Yesterday I got rejected from a writing residency I applied to months ago—and put a ton of work into— and was feeling down. Seems like all I’ve been doing is laboring and waiting with my book project! Your post and hearing old-school Tom sing to me helped bring things back into perspective. That song is my (old) new writing anthem. Thank you. Off to labor!
Wow. Your subject line was more than perfect, because I'd just said to a painter friend, "I'm keeping busy writing poetry and new board books so I keep my mind off whether my agent will sell my book." Labor and wait. And keep creating.
I was looking for this exact art this week and couldn’t recall the title/name of it. And lo and behold , it shows up in my email box! Wow. There are no accidents. Thank you!
The part of the Longfellow poem jumping out at me this morning is “with a heart for any fate.” It addresses the scary part of the creative process, and the putting the work out there and seeing what the fate will be.
August is not my favourite month. Labour and Wait--too true. I have no creative thoughts, ideas, or energy. This article captures my feelings perfectly.
I love Iris Murdoch, The sea, the sea was the first one I read. In my first college comp class the professor asked what we liked to read. He was a bit taken a back when I said Iris Murdoch 😂 And I think I'm going to adopt labor and wait as my slogan for the rest of the year, I'm building a new community art center and dealing with all the construction issues makes this a perfect fit. 😂😂
I fell back in love with A Hard Day's Night a few years ago and I could rewatch that movie at the drop of a hat. They captured lightning in a bottle—the movie has no business being that good, the lads are ridiculously good, and the fact that they started filming a movie classic less than a month after their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show boggles my mind.
(You could probably make a case for The Beatles in '64 having one of the great artistic and commercial stretches with conquering the US, Hard Day's Night [movie & music], and 5 records in the US Top 5. And I'm sure there's a great Motown run that would need to be considered in that discussion too!)
With the "labour and wait" idea, what's interesting is that the work itself does not change during the waiting period. My good friend who is a cartoonist and writer once said that it's you that changes in the interim, you are never exactly the same person who created the work as time passes.
Yesterday I got rejected from a writing residency I applied to months ago—and put a ton of work into— and was feeling down. Seems like all I’ve been doing is laboring and waiting with my book project! Your post and hearing old-school Tom sing to me helped bring things back into perspective. That song is my (old) new writing anthem. Thank you. Off to labor!
Wow. Your subject line was more than perfect, because I'd just said to a painter friend, "I'm keeping busy writing poetry and new board books so I keep my mind off whether my agent will sell my book." Labor and wait. And keep creating.
Love the “ex-votos”! I am a big Frida fan!♥️
I was looking for this exact art this week and couldn’t recall the title/name of it. And lo and behold , it shows up in my email box! Wow. There are no accidents. Thank you!
The part of the Longfellow poem jumping out at me this morning is “with a heart for any fate.” It addresses the scary part of the creative process, and the putting the work out there and seeing what the fate will be.
On anger: boy, do we need to get angry...and do something with it.
August is not my favourite month. Labour and Wait--too true. I have no creative thoughts, ideas, or energy. This article captures my feelings perfectly.
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2022/08/24/against-august/
I love Iris Murdoch, The sea, the sea was the first one I read. In my first college comp class the professor asked what we liked to read. He was a bit taken a back when I said Iris Murdoch 😂 And I think I'm going to adopt labor and wait as my slogan for the rest of the year, I'm building a new community art center and dealing with all the construction issues makes this a perfect fit. 😂😂
I fell back in love with A Hard Day's Night a few years ago and I could rewatch that movie at the drop of a hat. They captured lightning in a bottle—the movie has no business being that good, the lads are ridiculously good, and the fact that they started filming a movie classic less than a month after their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show boggles my mind.
(You could probably make a case for The Beatles in '64 having one of the great artistic and commercial stretches with conquering the US, Hard Day's Night [movie & music], and 5 records in the US Top 5. And I'm sure there's a great Motown run that would need to be considered in that discussion too!)