Refreshing the idealized version
Oh, hi friends!
What is the idealized version of yourself?
It’s funny, when Brass Ring reader Beth mentioned this phrase in a recent email, I could immediately conjure up an idealized me.
Perfect at planning, everything in order, great taste in all things, high-achieving. The idealized version of myself would have no trouble cooking and conjuring up great vacations or scoring a vaccine appointment at 8 a.m. and writing for four hours a day.
What does your idealized version look like?
Putting it into words can be illuminating. You might see how much is in your control — or how parts of that fictional version might not matter all that much.
The realistic version of yourself is pretty good, too.
“There is no such thing as good writing, only good rewriting."
—Robert Graves (hat tip to Tim McFadden for that one)
If you’re staring down the barrel of a few drafts that can be better — trust that they will be, after a bit of rewriting.
In Which Elton John Writes a Song on the Spot
Talk about not needing the perfect conditions to create! I’m obsessed with this old clip of Elton John being asked to write a song about, of all things, an oven manual. (h/t Dorie Clark)
And Elton does! He tries something with hesitating, pivots to an uptempo to see if that works better, and keeps pushing on through challenging phrases. In the end, he made something — out of nothing.
A bit of inspiration if your own work is feeling rather so-so. Just start riffing.
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Thanks, as always, for reading.
Love, Kara