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This is the sixth installment of the read along for "The Creative Habit" by Twlya Tharp.
Chapter 1 and 2 of the read along can be found in this post.
Chapter 3 of the read along can be found in this post.
Chapter 4 of the read along can be found in this post.
Chapter 5 of the read along can be found in this post.
Chapter 6 of the read along can be found in this post.
* Posts will go up on Mondays from now on instead of Sundays. Thanks! :)
* Posts will go up on Mondays from now on instead of Sundays. Thanks! :)
Chapter 7 - Accidents Will Happen
This chapter is one of my favorites. It deals with the ideas of planning and serendipity. Tharp calls it "being prepared for luck."
She says, "The key words here are "prepared" and "lucky." They're inseparable. You don't get lucky without preparation, and there's no sense in being prepared if you're not open to the possibility of a glorious accident."
In other words, if you don't do the work and hone your skills, there's no chance that luck will show up and do the job for you.
I've always skirted this idea, not liking the thought of relying heavily on chance. I know some artists that do and it seems to work for them but for me? I need to at least lay the foundation before I let my creative energy wander off on a tangent. I don't want to burden it with having to do everything.
It's a fine line between planning and letting go. I'm a dweller, I like to spend 80% of my time on a project thinking and daydreaming and pondering and the final 20% executing it. It used to stress me out, made me wonder if I was simply a procrastinator. But the more in tune I became with my process, the more I realized that that is my process.
Letting go is not the simplest path. It's easy to get tied up in the way something looks in our heads and to want to force it to go that route. I don't know about you, but I've never had much luck when I try to do that. Those are the kinds of projects that get chopped up and used in collages. ;-)
How about you? How do you handle the balance of preparation and luck?
Next Monday we'll discuss Chapter 8 - Spine. Happy reading! :)
1 comment:
I too like this chapter. I spend about 60% of my time pondering and prepping. Once I start the execution part of my piece I usually end up "letting go" at some point and am pleasantly surprised with the end result. I used to be very rigid about the whole process and those pieces usually ended up in the ufo bag! Since studying and reading for a very long time I am now able to "let go" at some point and really enjoy the results.
This is a great blog! Thanks for sharing your time.
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