Day 155 of the 365 Days of Blogging

The author, Dane F. Baylis

SURVIVING AND OVERCOMING YOU

 

OR

 

Everybody Falls On Their Ass Out Here, It's Part of Becoming Who You'll Be.

 

 

 

I was over visiting one of my favorite blogs, other than this one, when I ran across this quote, "If mistakes humiliate you, you will never create." It was posted to The Kill Zone, by Boyd Morrison in a piece entitled, LESSONS LEARNED, and is in reference to the quotes he found most memorable while attending the Howard Fine Acting Studio in Hollywood.

 

I agree whole heartedly that a lot of what you learn as an actor can be applied to your writing, and vice verse, but this one quote is so relevant. I don't give a damn what discipline your working at...acting, writing, film, painting, sculpting, ceramics, what have you...if the occasional prospect of making an ass out of yourself frightens you, you will never CREATE! This isn't to say you won't possibly develop a body of work, and maybe even make a living, but you will never step outside of the tried and proven steps taken by those around and before you. You will not create, you will copy.

 

Creativity in the form of honestly original expressions of our talents, always flirts out there on the edge of disaster. Anytime we deviate from the accepted, and present the new and unexpected, we risk being misunderstood or, worse yet, just not comprehended at all. Take for example Ezra Pound's, CANTO, a work which has been recognized for its radical usage of language and metaphor, yet, to this day, argued over incessantly as to its content and merit. Did this stop Pound? No, though some say that it was just further proof of his psychological instability.

 

A less distant, and more reachable example, was JK Rowling's HARRY POTTER series. She was told, over and over, no one would be interested in a long, drawn out series about a boy sorcerer and his teachers, friends, and enemies. Well, anyone want to guess how humiliated all the editors and publishers who turned that cash machine down are now?

 

It's like learning to ice skate. Just when you think you're ready for that next spiffy move, there you are, flat on your bruised and frigid derriere. But eventually it comes, and it's the ones who aren't afraid of the occasional prat fall who become Olympic figure skaters or Stanley Cup hockey champions.The trick is, learn from the mistake, have a good laugh at the memory, pick yourself up, and skate on! If humiliation caused bruises, I'd be a lovely shade of grape by now.

 

Then again, it's only my opinion.

 

 

Meanwhile...live, love, write.

 

 

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Tomorrow,

 

Dane F. Baylis

Author.