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It’s Not Always Easy to Keep the Beacons Burning
This creativity game is a tall order.
Keep your heart open so you can carve pathways guiding people to a kinder, wilder world.
At the same time, toughen up. Tune yourself well, so you can find the value in criticism without allowing it to paralyze you, or turn you from the things you know are true. Become immune to rejection. Anesthetize yourself against the dogged persistence of time. (Never mind that time, the bastard, lurks around hallways and laughs in a mocking tone, waiting for his chance to transform us all into cereal crumbles.)
(Time is certainly of the male persuasion. Sorry, dudes.)
It’s not just me—I think recent years have been rough for most of us. Snow fell, rains came, and tourists peed on the beacons when no one was looking.
Persistence, that’s the thing. It’s always been the thing. Motivation is fickle, passion is inconstant, excitement is capricious, keep your nose down, and work, work, work. You’re tired? Everyone is. Wake up earlier. Stay up later. Be slightly smarter, if you can pull it off. Do the laundry. Count the change. Build your platform. Couldn’t hurt to be a little sexy. Push yourself off the cliff and build your wings on the way down (Bradbury)—if you don’t get them done in time, well, maybe next time will hurt less. Keep paying for those big, heavy dreams, even though there’s no promise of return on that particular investment.
All the while the world tumbles down around you.
The flame flickers.
(Aimee Bender wrote a short story titled Job’s Jobs that eviscerated me a few years back. If any of this resonates with you, go read it.)
A year passes. Another year passes. Children have the nerve to grow into full-sized humans, even though NO ONE GAVE THEM PERMISSION.
There’s this film I want to make, because I can see it clear as bells. (I once wrote that no one should bother making another zombie movie, because there aren’t any original takes left.) This is a zombie movie.
It’s a zombie movie combined with The Red Shoes.
If you’re not familiar with The Red Shoes, it’s a lovely little fairy tale for kids, where the lead character puts on…
