4 Comments
User's avatar
Miguel Clark Mallet's avatar

What you say about woodworking sounds so much like what I've tried to do as a writer. You enter the process with one achievement in mind, and pretty soon you're swimming through contradictions and experiments and, yes, failure. It's nice to know that as a writer, the problems I run into are suffered by other artists too.

Taliesin's avatar

Yes, it’s with pen and paper (or keyboard and screen), but you’re also making by hand and that creative process is going to take a piece of your hide with it. I’m glad you find the resonance with these sentiments on mistakes in your own work, because I certainly feel the connection between what I do and what you do.

Miguel Clark Mallet's avatar

Oh absolutely. The material is different, but creative work is creative work. It involves risks and trial and error and, yes, failure sometimes. Personally, I think writers have it easier because if you screw up part of piece of writing, you don't have to haul away the material in a truck. The risks of creating are the same, and when it doesn't work, it can be crushing. But when you create someone and it does works, there's no feeling like it. I guess we just keep on keeping on. :-)

Taliesin's avatar

Yes! I love the puzzles, too, and getting the chance to solve them. But it is enchanting to have work you’ve done resonate with another person. It’s the best kind of communication.