This week, while driving along, I heard an interview with Kay Ryan, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in poetry -2011. Because I teach novice painters, I couldn't help love what she had to say. The interviewer asked her what advice she had for fledgling writers. "Fledglings!", said Ms Ryan, "that's the perfect name for beginners. I'd tell them that they need to stay in the nest longer and grow more feathers before trying to fly."
It's typical to want to put your work out there ... we all tend to fall in love with our first attempts. When really, if you'd stay 'in the nest' growing your feathers for a few years, you'd have learned so much more and your art would be so much better.
There are always exceptions, of course. Some - and it's rare -can pick up a brush, sit down to the piano or put pen to paper - and beautiful results happen right away. But for the rest of us - well it takes a lot of hard work to be an 'overnight success', The Good News? Even growing feathers is great fun!
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