The War of Art

The only thing that matters is that you take action. Start creating. The burden of tamping down your creativity every minute of every day is exhausting. It makes you sick, sure—stress and anxiety have proven negative health consequences—but it also drains your soul.

Turning pro is like kicking a drug habit or stopping drinking. It's a decision, a decision to which we must re-commit every day.

All our efforts to make sense of ourselves and our art are a smoke screen, an obfuscation. They don’t illuminate what is. They mislead us. We have no way of knowing what is insignificant and what is essential, or what our contributions mean. We tell ourselves varying stories of who we are and how the work gets made. But none of them matter. All tha

Over the months that followed this week, I came to realize two things. The first is that I wasn’t taking a radical or ruthless enough approach to change. I was constantly making bargains and pacts and capitulations. I would compromise and cajole. Resistance thrives in that gray zone of valueless nonjudgment. It loves instant gratification and ratio