Creativity is the art of making mistakes
🙂 Welcome back to the Medium Newsletter (it’s so good to be back!)
Issue #240: who the Pope would play in Baldur’s Gate 3 and a good reason to read more
What does the phrase “getting out of your comfort zone” really mean, especially when it pertains to writing?
“When you stretch your limits, you redefine comfort,” says Cara J. Stevens for The Writing Cooperative. “What once scared you becomes part of your new normal.” She explains how the real benefit goes beyond just learning a new skill. You expand your tolerance for discomfort and develop grit — the real star of the show.
To find what to actually do to grow, Stevens suggests trying new uncomfy ways to use your skills rather than just doing more of the same. Here are a few ways to turn a resolution of “writing more” into activities that may feel unsafe or new (for now):
- Try writing a story that makes you uncomfortable: “Every time you write the thing that scares you, you become more of the writer you want to be.”
- Submit your work to a Medium publication: “Submitting your work feels scary because it opens the door to rejection. But rejection is a sign you’re trying.”
- Write a pitch for your favorite magazine or local newspaper: “Don’t just brainstorm within your usual writing lane. Challenge yourself to think up ideas that feel different, bigger, or bolder than your usual work.”
Of course, doing something new means you’re signing yourself up for blunders. In The essential art of making mistakes, James Bareham (former creative director at some of my favorite websites ever) explains how that’s not a bad thing. “Making mistakes is being creative,” he writes, going on to recommend embracing your worst work as fuel for iterative inspiration:
“Experimentation is essential to the creative process, and making mistakes doubly so because it’s often the accidents that lead to something interesting.”
Great stuff to read
- This story introduced me to Jackie Shane, an influential transgender R&B singer particularly active in the ’50s and ’60s, who is featured in a new documentary. It’s just one example of how artists of underrepresented identities are often missing from mainstream music history. Her song “Any Other Way” is now in heavy rotation in my playlists.
- A studio director of the video game Baldur’s Gate 3 recently confirmed that two copies were sold in The Vatican. For Christina Koh, it begged the delightful and bizarre question: What kind of character would Pope Francis play?
- If (like me) you’re already struggling to find the time for your New Year’s Resolutions, Roy Phang presents a solution in How 60 Minutes a Day Can Change Your Life, where he shares his journey committing to a daily coding learning ritual — but only for three months, not forever. The lesson: Instead of thinking about what you want to spend an hour a day doing for an entire year (terrifying), think about a smaller span of time.
Your daily dose of practical wisdom
“If you’re having trouble writing, you’re not reading enough.” (David Todd McCarty)
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Edited and produced by Scott Lamb & Harris Sockel
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