Week 12 Story Lab: More Advice to Writers

Man, I really like these quotes.
(splash painting of a bird, from Pixabay)

All Art Comes from Love
No one asks what Mozart means. Or an Indian raga or the little tripping dance of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers to “Cheek to Cheek” in Top Hat. Forget about making things that are understood. I don’t know what Abba means, but I love it. Imagination is your creed; sentimentality and lack of feeling your foe. All art comes from love — love of doing something.
JERRY SALTZ

 It's true - in every widely known piece of art, no one asks what it means, so much as they enjoy what it is. A skillful display of brushstroke, a layering of notes that make you feel a certain way, an exciting weaving together or words in a particular order that inspires you - there's just...something about it that you enjoy. And it's not from understanding it, but from you sharing the same love the creator put into it. It's like they put so much love into doing something that it spills over. And you're in the splash zone, soaking it all up.


Respect Your First Draft
Respect your first draft! It’s your child, just a little uncoordinated and unkempt. Don’t throw that baby out with the bathwater. The fact that you wrote it makes it significant. You must have been trying to say something, even though the manuscript may look like subliterate Sanskrit to you now.
CAROLYN SEE

 I like the personification of the first draft as your child. You produced this baby of a draft, so don't just throw it out! It just needs a little bit of work. Sometimes I'm so proud of my first draft, then I come back to look at it later and find that it made no sense, I don't know what's going on, who even wrote this "subliterate Sanskrit." But that's okay. It's just a little uncoordinated.

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