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Jay Posey

Archives for March 2013

Between Inspiration and Perspiration

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There’s the old saying that goes:

something something something is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration.

It’s not a very good saying obviously, but for some reason it’s stuck around.  As we’ve seen elsewhere, inspiration is never actually more than 3% according to scientifically-proven FACT, it’s true you don’t even need to Google it.  And it turns out that the amount of perspiration is vastly overstated as well, and one crucial piece is missing, which basically makes the whole thing useless.

Okay, it’s not completely wrong I guess.  Inspiration and perspiration are both important parts to Doing the Work.  But it leaves out a crucial piece that is frequently overlooked when we’re going back and reconstructing the Narrative of Our Moment of Genius.

That critical component is cultivation.

The mythical Flash of Genius is mostly just that … a myth.  More often than not our A-ha moments aren’t lightning flashes from heaven as much as they are Take On Me, or maybe The Sun Always Shines on T.V.

BOOOOO!  Sorry, that was terrible. There was this band, see, and they did these songs …

ANYWAY, what I meant to say there was that the Sudden Flash of Inspiration is most often actually the exclamation point on a slowly unfolding process that we sometimes don’t even notice is taking place.  Frequently it starts as a sort of hunch, that maybe there’s an Interesting Solution out there worth thinking about, and maybe we’ll get around to thinking about it at some point.

When we get that initial flash of Inspiration, it’s tempting to think that all that remains is the Perspiration, and sometimes we jump the gun trying to Do Work before we’re really ready for it. This happens frequently in writing, but most certainly isn’t unique to writers.

In any creative endeavor, it can be extraordinarily helpful to set things aside for a time and do Something Else.  Sometimes when we chase a solution, it’s squirrely and evasive and annoying and it thinks we’re playing WHEN WE’RE REALLY NOT.  But when you go away for a little while, solutions have a way of coming to find you.  It’s why so many of us have our Epiphanies when we’re driving or sleeping or showering or generally somewhere where there’s most likely not a pen handy.

So if you’ve had a Great Idea and you haven’t quite gotten around to Doing Anything About It, don’t beat yourself up.  Between inspiration and perspiration, there needs to be room for cultivation.

Which is a fine way to explain why it is you’re sitting in a coffee shop perusing Twitter instead of finishing up Chapter Eight of your sequel, POSEY!

Attention vs. Affection

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Supposedly there’s no such thing as bad publicity.  But I’m pretty sure if someone were to reveal that the secret ingredient to your hugely popular savory cupcakes is retired racing horse meat, that’s not going to launch your bakery business in a positive direction.  (Unless you consider it from the retired racing horse perspective, I suppose.)

Sadly, as hard as it is to do these days, it’s not enough just to get people’s Attention anyway.  Attention isn’t really worth anything if there’s no lasting impression.  And if you leave someone with the wrong kind of impression, you’ve just about guaranteed that you’ve blown it with that someone forever.  (About your only chance for recovery in that case is for one of your Fans to win them back on your behalf.)

Promise someone a FREE IPAD* if they Buy Your Book, and include *$2200 processing fee to receive Free iPad in the fine print, and you will probably get a lot of word-of-mouth.  It just probably won’t be the kinds of words you were hoping for.

Affection, on the other hand, short-circuits all of the other nonsense and wins Fans.  And Affection doesn’t just win you one Fan.  It tends to spread.  Your newly Affectionate Fans go out and tell everyone else how great you are.  They cheer you on when you need encouragement.  And even if you screw up down the road, they’ll usually give you another chance.

How you win the Affection of your audience depends a great deal on what you’re offering.  But whether you’re a baker, or a teacher, or a CEO, or a banker, or a pastor, or a Senator, or a writer (yuck) the starting point tends to be the same: serve your people, deliver more than expected, and be grateful for each person that chooses to spend some of their limited time, money, or attention on anything you do.

Speaking of which, if you’ve read this far, I really appreciate you!  Can I interest you in a savory cupcake*?

 (*No savory cupcakes are actually available at this time.)

Prevail

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The greatest obstacle to achieving The Thing You’re About isn’t actually your boss, or your spouse, or your bills, or your circumstances, or your upbringing, or all the mistakes you’ve made along the way.

It’s you.

The reason you’re not achieving what you want to achieve is because you aren’t willing to pay the price it requires.  Despite what you say, something else is more important to you than the thing you claim is your one goal and purpose.  Your comfort.  Your status.  Your TV time.

Dreams cost.

Turn around to see what’s holding you back and you’re very likely to find it’s your own hand attached to your own arm attached to your own shoulder and contorted in a way that would freak everyone out if they weren’t doing the same thing.

You don’t need more time.  You need to be more intentional with the time you have.

If you really want to make a change, quit doing what you’re used to doing.  Say goodbye to the things you enjoy that don’t move you towards your goal.  If you are serious, be serious.  Fight yourself.

Prevail.

Oh hello dear readers!  You caught me talking to myself there.

Writing is Stupid

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And no one should ever do it.

But if you absolutely insist on torturing yourself and all those around you, it’s worth at least doing it well and for the right reasons.

See if you can tell which of the following are The Right Reasons:

  • To gain the admiration and respect of throngs of people around the world
  • To display your genius
  • To get rich quickly
  • To correct everyone else’s stupidity
  • To live a life of leisure, free of care and concern
  • To prove your parents wrong
  • To show everyone how much better you are than every other writer that ever was
  • So you can look down on others
  • Because it makes you special
  • Because it’s easy

If you selected any of the above you are wrong.  There is no right reason to write, because writing is stupid and no one should ever do it, EVER.

But if you still think you should, know that it is one of the most difficult things in the world to say exactly what you want to say, and nothing more and nothing less.  Know that the more you study writing, the more you will realize how impossible it really is to fully capture That Thought or Dream in words.  And even if you happen to think you’ve captured it, you will come back later and read it again, and realize you could’ve done it so much better.

And if by some stroke of luck you happen to accidentally hit upon exactly what you wanted to say exactly the way you wanted to say it, which is unlikely, lots of people who read it will misunderstand what you were trying to say anyway, because they’ll misread it.  Not that “lots” of people will ever read what you wrote.  The vast majority of people will be completely unaware you exist.

Even if you are a wildly successful author, most of the people in the world will never have heard of you.  Of those that have heard of you, many won’t like you.  And even many of the people who like your work won’t be able to remember your name or recognize you in person.

You will never finish anything.  Because whatever It is could always be improved, if only you were a little better.

That Thing you spend years pouring yourself into, sacrificing countless mornings and lunches and nights that could be spent enjoying yourself?  Your audience will consume it in mere hours.  And forget most of it.

So don’t bother.  Writing is stupid and no one should ever do it.

Unless you simply must.  In which case none of the above should prevent you from doing it, because maybe, just maybe, you might be doing it for a reason that is something like right.