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What Made You Do That?
Did you ever wait around with a pen in your hand, a paint brush, a camera, a guitar? Just waiting for the right moment, when all the stars line up? You stare into the abyss of inspiration, hoping for something magical to happen. You twiddle your thumbs. You get up and pace the room, run around the block, pet the dog, yell at the cat. What’s in the fridge? Oh, haven’t talked to mom and dad yet today! Inspiration and procrastination go hand in hand. One fills the hole left by the other. Barry Spacks called it “very elaborately not writing a novel.” Inspiration, it seems, is a fraud. It’s a gold rush, a winning lottery ticket. We’ve got to pay our dues, bust some rocks, and that’s how we end up inspired. Persistence. Sweat. Blood. Tears. The shovel we pick up every day, not knowing where to dig, which notes to pick, what words to put in, which to leave out.
There’s a House of the Rising Son cover playing. “Oh mother, tell your children not to do what I have done.” One foot on the platform, one foot on the train. One foot in the grave, one foot on the pedal. One foot in the past, one foot in the future. One step at a time. Baby steps. A journey of a thousand steps. Take a moment to contemplate how many directions a single thought can take you. I didn’t know where that song would lead me. Quick, think of a song!
Here’s another one. Bruce Springsteen’s early work. The Wild, The Innocent, and The E Street Shuffle. Kitty’s Back. I mishear the opening lyrics every time and have resorted to googling them from time to time. It sounds like he’s saying “asshole,” but I assure you, he’s not. “Catlong sighs holding kitty's black tooth.” Catlong assholes, what? What inspired Bruce to write that? You think it just hit him like a bolt of lightning out of the clear, blue Jersey sky? Maybe it did. Sometimes it does. Most of the time, you’ve got to work it through, throwing everything you’ve got at your canvas, then going back in and cleaning things up, hoping the world never discovers the rough, early drafts.
Did you know that for every great photograph, there might be a hundred or a thousand rejects? Maybe more. In the middle or late in life, you might finally hit your stride. Everything else was leading up to this moment. Those early inspirations suddenly seem like false summits. “All those people I used to know, they’re an illusion to me now.” Not everything has to lead to some grand, culminating moment. Success can be rolling. Rolling thunder. Rolling dice. Rollin’ on the river. Like a rolling stone.
You used to be so amused
At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used
Go to him he calls you, you can't refuse
When you ain't got nothing, you got nothing to lose
You're invisible now, you've got no secrets to concealHow does it feel, ah how does it feel?
To be on your own, with no direction home
Like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone
“Here and now, boys, here and now!” Are you going to keep staring into the abyss of inspiration? Or are you going to get cracking on whatever’s staring you right in the face, right here in the here and now?
No Trespassing
There’s a sign on the fence that says “no trespassing.” But the fence doesn’t go all the way around. And why would you trespass, anyway?
Musical Moment
Better days ahead. Not always. Scattered across the desert, we stumble upon abandoned towns and not quite forgotten highways. We stop and look around before moving on, eager to eventually arrive at our destination.
Networking + Boat Cruise!
Sue Brooke of Alignable is hosting an epic networking and boat cruise event on August 3 down in Long Beach. Sue is a rock star networker and teacher, one of the original Alignable Ambassadors, and she’s traveling the nation in an RV helping small business owners build their referral networks. Come join us for happy hour and a cruise!