Pray, Work, Repeat

Recently I've made the announcement how I've contracted with Morgan James Publishing and 48 Days Press to get Shut Up & Draw published. We all know the old adage, "be careful what you pray for cause you might get it".  (Pre-order Shut Up & Draw)

My partnership with Morgan James and my relationship with my virtual mentor, Dan Miller, (which by the way is becoming less virtual as we communicate more often) has opened so many doors and realms of possibilities which is not unlike culture shock. I've thus been researching all the ways to market the book and networking in relation to the same and it's quite overwhelming. I need to break the elephant up into smaller bite sized pieces which is in itself a big job, mentally speaking, that is.

Upon making the announcement to my network of friends and associates, I received the admiration from people to whom I was previously invisible and the funny thing is they have no clue as to how overwhelmed and  intimidated I am. 

However, the bottom line is this: enough research and studying. Now it's time to get to work. 

 

Platitudes and H.L. Mencken

"Platitudes are the Sundays of stupidity"

The above quote is attributed to H.L. Mencken (1880-1956) who was a journalist, satirist, social critic and free thinker. I don't pretend to know what all that means. 

I found it to be a very interesting statement and I wanted to find out what he meant by it. 

He is also known as the "American Nietzsche" and in order to fully understand this remark, I had to look up some definitions. The first was "who is H.L. Menken". I just answered that. 

The next thing I wanted to answer was the definition of "platitude". Webster defines it as 

"the quality or state of being dull or insipid; a banal, trite or stale remark."

Next, what has Sunday to do with it? Sunday is a day of rest. A holy day, a sabbath. A day off. In the case of the quote it might be more related to the adjective used to describe someone putting on their best behavior or appearance; an amateur as in the phrase 

"put on your Sunday best".

"Stupid"? It means slow of mind, unintelligent, brutish or senseless. 

So if I put it all down another way, the quote may go something like  this: 

"dull, uninteresting and trite remarks, are showy things senseless people say". 

Could it be said another way? 

"Things are said in trite ways to satisfy unintelligent people".

It might also mean 

"the dim-witted things people think or say are generally acceptable when wrapped nicely in an insipid quote".

To me it is like a politician, when trying to win the votes of the masses, dances around the substantive issues by giving a wordy speech bedraggled with nice, banal words and phrases, but short on specifics.

I think of this quote when I hear an oft repeated phrase; a platitude. Things like  

• "Reach across the aisle"
• "The time is now"
• "There's only one race, the human race"
• "There's still work to be done"
• "Glass Ceiling"

No Punching a Time Clock for Us

I've often struggled with my daily regimens and habitual work routines. When I was working a job, my schedule was very much set in stone by knowing when it was time to punch in and out, when to go to lunch, how long I could take, etc. In the world of self-employment, however, it's a bit more challenging. 

The challenge...

There is always the dogmatism of some who feel like every moment we're awake should be filled with work and not just work but the type which is associated with our vocation. There are also those that feel how they do things is how everyone should do it.

I must admit I've grappled with this philosophy because I've discovered that spending hours of continuous focus on a solitary task tends to diminish my creative thinking as fatigue sets in. I would then think of myself as undisciplined or berate myself for being so lazy.

Poor, poor, pitiful, me...

As time passed and the more I discovered about great creative thinkers throughout history, the more I realized that there may be less amiss with me than I have thought. Many famous and wealthy people have had various working routines and strange habits to help them and they're all as varied as the individuals themselves. 

• Maya Angelou would work for about six hours and she always did so from a hotel or motel room.
• Mozart would compose and teach for over ten hours a day but his time was broken up. In between he would dine, read, and take walks with his wife.
• Charles Darwin worked for short times dispersed between recreation, reading and dining. 
• Beethoven started each day with a cup of coffee from exactly 60 coffee beans, no more and no less. He would carefully count them. To him it was the perfect cup of coffee. 

Some famous people worked regular or mundane jobs that helped in their creative thinking.

• Albert Einstein worked as a patent clerk when he came up with his Theory of Relativity.
• Walt Whitman was a newspaper editor even after he was publishing his famous poems. 

Aside from the work routines, some famous celebrities had some very strange habits many of which bordered on the bizarre.

• Aldous Huxley kept a revolver in his desk drawer and whenever he finished writing a book he would fire a shot out of his office window.
• Artist Georgia O'Keefe painted from the rumble seat of her Model A ford.
• Leo Tolstoy, though wealthy, wore only ragged peasant's clothes because of his disdain for the upper class.
• Earnest Hemingway wrote standing up.
• Composer Franz Schubert wore glasses which in itself isn't strange but he never took them off. He even wore them to bed.
• Michelangelo rarely bathed and would wear the same clothes for days. He would even sleep in them, boots and all.
• Victor Hugo wrote in the nude. He instructed his servant to hide his clothes to prevent him from leaving the room until he met his deadline.
• Dan Brown hangs upside down to prevent writer's block. 
• Friedrich Schiller, the German poet, kept rotten apples in his desk drawer because the putrid smell jolted his brain into activity.
• Truman Capote was the oddest of them all. He never called anyone whose phone number added up to 13 nor would he stay in a hotel room whose numbers also added up to 13. He never began or finished a piece of work on a Friday. He was a chain smoker which he claimed help him in his creative process but would never allow his ashtray to have three cigarette butts. He would put then in his pocket. 

I have some habits of my own that don't go as far as those mentioned which are:

• I start everyday handwriting in my journal, and I have a specific refillable fountain pen I've had for years used for only that purpose and I never use it for anything else.
• I use only a hardcover dictionary and thesaurus. Nothing digital.
• I draw using dip pens before making it digital.
• I have to wear shoes when working at my desk. 

No, these aren't as bizarre as Capote or Huxley but I'm grateful I'm not so oddball. I think.

Feel free to list any of your own habits or routines, strange or not, in the comments below. 

Spending Time in the Shower (and other things)

I am in the throes of transitioning from one career to another and the meat of the matter is my new work routine. I have, as of late, been distressed over spending most of the week trying to fill my time with productive hours, ignoring the fact that my income generating days are usually on the weekends for now. It gives me a sense of uneasiness because it's a routine I'm not as accustomed to. 

I'm reminded of an episode of Seinfeld in which Kramer becomes distressed because he thinks he is taking too long to bathe in the shower. He takes steps to improve the situation by comparing himself to the bathing habits of his friends Jerry and Elain and comically goes to the gym to takes notes on other's shower techniques (which turns out to have very negative consequences).  In an attempt to take shorter showers he discovers he didn't rinse properly and still has has soap lather streaming down his neck and leg.

After failed attempts at modifying his shower routine, he finally concludes that he actually prefers longer showers and resigns to simply doing so regardless of his prior distress over it. He purchased a water proof  telephone, installed a garbage disposer in the shower drain, even prepared his meals in there and resolved to quit trying to take shorter showers. 

A funny scenario and it's a perspective I've adopted in a way. The fact is I am working.  I'm employed. I'm meeting our present needs with the weekend work in which I'm now engaged and for me to get distressed over my new weekday routine is unnecessary. To have a healthy sense of urgency to find productive endeavors during the week is a worthy pursuit but not one worth anguishing about. In my activities and pursuits of finding more and more creative endeavors, I can rest assured I will find them.  

Believe it or Not

 I don't always quote movies because most of the tripe coming out of Hollywood lately isn't my cup of tea but when a good story, good acting and good directing come together, it's something special. 

There is a scene from a movie that came out in 1980 that deserves my nod and I won't mention the movie but if anyone reads this, they may easily recognize it.

The scene is when a teacher tells a student to perform a task that requires great mental and physical effort which is tantamount to moving a mountain. The student expresses his skepticism with the remark "It's too big".

The teacher responds, "It's not too big except in your mind. You must unlearn that which you have learned."

"You're asking the impossible", replies the student who then walks away discouraged.

At that, the teacher proceeds to do the very thing the student said was impossible right in front of his eyes. The astonished student gasps a reply, "I don't believe it!".  

"That is why you fail", said the master.

The scene is from The Empire Strikes Back" and I think George Lucas, the writer of the script, was giving a bit of autobiographical insert here as the Star Wars franchise succeeded to levels that even he could not have predicted.

Self-belief is essential if one is to reach any level of success one desires. The unwavering faith that comes from total dedication to one's craft.

Punched in the Face

This past weekend I drew at my first all digital, live event at the Katy Home and Garden Show and I gave myself a substantial learning curve. I had planned, in my head, how drawing digitally at events were going to play out and I expected good things. It reminds me of what boxing great, Mike Tyson once said: 

"Everyone has a plan until 

they get punched in the face". 

Saturday was very much a difficult day as I had a traditional gig in Spring Branch and hurried to Katy to set up the TV, tablet, drawing table etc. and by the time I did all that, I was well spent.

As time progressed, things proceeded as many first endeavors go. I had technical issues, missing equipment, I was tentative and intimidated at using it and very slow and choppy. All in all it was not a good day.

What's worse, is I later discovered a streak across the TV screen where I may have damaged it and I was so discouraged and exasperated that I wanted to cancel my time for the following day, Sunday, and forget about the whole thing. 

Then I began thinking that I made a commitment to my vender and as leader of a local network, I had an obligation to live up to the standards of the group. How credible would it be of me to stand in front of the group and stress the importance of stepping out of our comfort zone and taking chances if I bowed out that Sunday.

So, I decided to show up and as a result, I had a better day than the previous one. I corrected mistakes from the previous day, was more aware of the intricacies of the set up and more people were pleased as I became more bold in my work. 

It's a good example of how doing something for the first time can be difficult, embarrassing and fraught with issues but as part of the self employed, it's important to accept it, learn from it, improving each time. Zig Ziglar said, 

"Anything worth doing is worth doing 

poorly until we learn to do it well".

A Target Too Far

 

I’ve set for myself a financial target which I’ve shared with very few people and I’ve received different reactions. Some have simply encouraged me with the question of how I will do it while there has been one or two which have snickered and scoffed with remarks like “you don’t have enough time to do that” and maybe they’re right.

 There are no guarantees I will reach that target. It doesn't mean I won’t be happy until I meet that end, but it does mean I can be happy on the journey.

I must admit it is an unrealistic objective and from where I stand it’s difficult to see. It reminds me of the days in boot camp at the rifle range when it was time to qualify with the M16 rifle. Marines are known for their marksmanship and the qualification process is grueling. Every Marine is required to perform well at the range and hit a target 500 meters away.

The first time I saw the target at that distance I was amazed. The target was nothing more than a white dot on the horizon and when I aimed at it, the front sight completely obscured it. It was more than 5 football fields away: half a kilometer. I had serious doubts about my ability to meet the requirement. I asked myself “How can I hit a target I can’t even see?”. But I also reasoned that if Marines do it every day and have done so for generations prior to my arrival then it could be done.

I then immersed myself into the task. During training, along with the rest of the platoon, I learned everything I could about the M16A2 rifle. I learned it was a 5.56mm, air cooled, shoulder fired, semi-automatic weapon. I learned its maximum effective range and maximum rate of fire. I studied every detail. Its length and how much it weighed. I learned the nomenclature of every part. I could disassemble it and have it in a dozen pieces on my footlocker before me, name every part and then put it back together. I learned about ballistics, velocity, camber, trajectory, and how the weather, even the humidity, affected the path of the bullet.

I studied windage, elevation, sighting in, and how to breath while firing. I learned how much pressure to use on the trigger before the weapon fired and how to use the sling for leverage to steady the rifle.

No amount of head knowledge would help me if I didn’t put it to practical use, so I practiced and practiced. I fired the weapon at 200 meters, 350 meters and 500 meters. Each day I improved from the previous until finally, on the final day, qualification day, I was ready. Nothing could stop me, The rifle became an extension of my body and was part of me as much as my arm or hand.

I performed well at the 200-meter and 350-meter distance and then there was the mountain. When it came time to qualify at the 500-meter target, I was ready. Ten shots in the prone position and not only did I hit the target, but I hit ten bull’s eyes. In fact, I succeeded at making the company high score and was awarded the “Expert Rifleman” status prior to everyone else in a special ceremony. Out of 500 Marine recruits, I was number one. The task at which I thought was impossible just weeks earlier, I had become an expert.

At the beginning of the training, I didn’t have the vision of becoming the top rifleman but I became the person who could be him.

So, looking at the financial target I’ve set, I know, from where I now stand, it’s an unrealistic objective. I also know that many others before me have set improbable aims which eventually became a reality. If I do as they did, also as I did at the Camp Pendleton rifle range and learn everything I can about the work in which I am now engaged, then I may hit that target.

There are no guarantees that I’ll succeed at hitting the target but, in the process, I can become the kind of person who can do it.

There are the nay-sayers and the doubters, but they will always be with us. Those people are not the ones with which to share our aims. They’ll claim we’re too young to set that as an objective because we don’t know any better. Some accuse others of being too old and time and opportunity has passed us by.  

Too many, even after the target is hit, still express their skepticism. “You must have cheated” some might say, or some even alleged that we’re lying about it or succeeded dishonestly. All those nay-sayer types are the ones we need to get away from as fast as possible.

“Never listen to the criticism of those from which you would never take advice.”