{"id":1546,"date":"2013-05-20T19:05:16","date_gmt":"2013-05-20T23:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/johnestes.org\/?p=1546"},"modified":"2013-05-20T19:05:16","modified_gmt":"2013-05-20T23:05:16","slug":"comedy-is-not-pretty-and-neither-is-your-dinner-party-the-expurgated-version","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnestes.net\/?p=1546","title":{"rendered":"Comedy is Not Pretty, And Neither is Your Dinner Party (The Expurgated Version)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kevin Ashton over at Medium delivering the ugly truth about the creative person’s relation to the world, which should, if you’re serious, involve a lot of saying No. No is the guardian of creative work<\/a>, the theory goes.<\/p>\n

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Time is the raw material of creation. Wipe away the magic and myth of creating and all that remains is work: the work of becoming expert through study and practice, the work of finding solutions to problems and problems with those solutions, the work of trial and error, the work of thinking and perfecting, the work of creating. Creating consumes. It is all day, every day. It knows neither weekends nor vacations. It is not when we feel like it. It is habit, compulsion, obsession, vocation.<\/p>\n

Saying \u201cno\u201d has more creative power than ideas, insights and talent combined. No guards time, the thread from which we weave our creations. The math of time is simple: you have less than you think and need more than you know. We are not taught to say \u201cno.\u201d We are taught not to say \u201cno.\u201d \u201cNo\u201d is rude. \u201cNo\u201d is for drugs and strangers with candy.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Somewhere he’s dug up this letter from Charles Dickens:<\/p>\n

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\u2018It is only half an hour\u2019 \u2014 \u2018It is only an afternoon\u2019 \u2014 \u2018It is only an evening,\u2019 people say to me over and over again; but they don\u2019t know that it is impossible to command one\u2019s self sometimes to any stipulated and set disposal of five minutes \u2014 or that the mere consciousness of an engagement will sometime worry a whole day \u2026 Who ever is devoted to an art must be content to deliver himself wholly up to it, and to find his recompense in it. I am grieved if you suspect me of not wanting to see you, but I can\u2019t help it; I must go in my way whether or no.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

That reminds me, and probably you\u2014how could it not?\u2014of Charles Dikkens, the esteemed Dutch author mentioned in this Python sketch, featuring Graham Chapman:<\/p>\n

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