I cannot strongly enough recommend the book I mentioned back on Sunday, Creating a Life Worth Living. For anyone who's had ambitions toward doing something creative with you life, this book really is illuminating. Many of the books in this genre tend to stay very abstract and vague, or suggest courses of action that, if they were easy to take, you would have taken long ago. A Life Worth Living is a very straightforward, hands-on approach to figuring out what you want out of life and taking steps toward that goal in practical ways. I'm highly impressed.
Carol Lloyd, the author, takes her lessons from talking with tons of artistic types and running successful workshops on the subject. She's refreshingly honest about not having all the answers but gives you a framework through which you can find your own answers to these questions. And if it sounds like the book is all about self-aggrandizement, I've given the wrong impression. She simply gives activities and exercises based on what really works and invites the reader to argue, disagree, and mess about with her theories. She also acknowledges that there is more at work beyond just the "artist" him or herself; I've found that her ideas fit very neatly into my faith--indeed, my faith illuminates some of her suggestions more than I would imagine she intended.
It's also creepy how well Lloyd knows the mind of creative-types. Several times I read what seemed to be my own thoughts transcribed, and it was kind of creepy. From discussing the various "voices" of the day (from the ones in the morning promising that today will be different, today you will get that work on your creative passion done to the afternoon voice of despair to the night voice encouraging relaxation and recuperation to begin afresh the next dawn) to her open categories helping to delineate which of the facets of creative endeavor suits your strenths, she's got my mind at least pinned down neatly. She's also unconventional in her approach and suggestions, which kind of freed me from a lot of the ingrained notions about career I've had.
And this is all from skimming--I'm trying to work through the book in stages as suggested. So far it's been great, and the rest looks at least as good.
I think anyone in my regular circle of readers would benefit from this book. Chris and Dan won't think so, but they're wrong. Certainly those of us who are looking to do something more than the nine-to-five can find hope here that there is a real possibility of loving the work we do.
7 comments:
Actually, I’ve never doubted you can do something artistic for a living, Mike. It just surprises me that until recently you haven’t put any serious thought or effort into it. You’re far more talented than most people out there who are already doing the things you want to do. But it’s your recent efforts to pursue such a career, the hard work you put in for your family, and even the fact that you’ve kept up with posting here daily that have made a believer out of me. Just keep in mind that it will be hard work, and there may be setbacks. You get discouraged too easily; don’t let those get you down. Only God can see what will come of all this, but it seems He’s at least called you to pursue it—and if so, it’s for some good reason. If nothing comes of this, what have you lost, in the scheme of things? But if it’s God’s will, and you do find a career in writing, or voice acting, we’ll all be darn proud of you.
Hello. Long time Mike blog reader. First time comment poster. In my first year of graduate school, now many moons ago, my doctoral advisor told us an anecdote about his close friend, the great French medievalist Georges Duby (d. 1996). Duby had once told him that he didn't end up studying medieval history because he wanted to, but because he HAD to. He didn't mean, of course, that someone put a gun to his head, but that there was a deeper, almost spiritual calling drawing him to that subject and field. My professor warned us eager nerds in the first year historiography seminar: if you're here for any other reason than that you HAVE to be, you're in the wrong business and should go out an find real jobs. Art, like any disciplined pursuit of the mind, is not something one simply desires or wants, but HAS to do in order to know one is leading a purposeful life. As the ancient Greeks already understood, ultimately it is a search for Truth and onesself -- Gnothi se euton and all that. We are all obligated to be artists in some way, though some are (*cough* Michael *cough*) better at the technical details and insight than others. There is not really a choice here, as I see it. It's about doing what you have to do.
Whoops. First time comment poster. Long time idiot. Should've identified myself there as John E. That's right. You know who.
Dan, you nonsensical Anatidae branta; I didn't mean that you would doubt that I could benefit from this. Your encouragement (and your kind words here) have been terrific. No, I meant that you wouldn't believe that you could benefit from such a book. I know you don't really always think of yourself as a "creative" person, and Chris most likely wouldn't think of himself as an "artist," either. But both of you have a good deal of creativity. As much as Devin, his brother, Laura, and I are all seeking to support our families through creative endeavor (and Marilyn secretly wants to as well, I think), almost everyone who passes by here has an amazing reservoir of ingenuity. It's just that some of us feel like we GO CRAZY AND MUST GO CRAZY MUST GO CRAZY GRRRRR SMASH HULK SMASH if we can't make it our main focus. I think this book can help both types and everyone in between.
Very nice, Mr. John Anonymous Poster Eldevik. I like that a lot.
The other point I want to make briefly is that Lloyd recommends strongly that those of us with talents in divergent areas hook up so as to form a kind of team with strengths in many areas.
So I'm bringing you all with me.
No, you don't get a say. Sorry.
Like we couldn't all figure out that the anonymous post came from Mr. J. Torvald Eldevik.
"my doctoral advisor told us an anecdote about his close friend, the great French medievalist Georges Duby (d. 1996)."
Um... yeah.
Ah, I get it. Guess I should be more careful when I post after a long day. Still, the rest of what I said applies.
And I agree that each of us has artistic talents to make use of in his or her career. My second-grade students think that I'm the greatest artist, guitar player, and storyteller in the world. I know that isn't true, but I'm not telling them that.;)
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