Enjoy this writerly advice from a famous writer. He dispensed the advice on New Year’s Day.
“I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.
Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself and changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re Doing Something.
So that’s my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody’s ever made before. Don’t freeze, don’t stop, don’t worry that it isn’t good enough, or it isn’t perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life.
Whatever it is you’re scared of doing, Do it.
Make your mistakes, next year and forever.”
― Neil Gaiman
What an enabling statement, a gift. It fosters freedom, experimentation. It celebrates risk. It compels one to try and not feel punished by failure.
It’s liberation!
Read and heed this meme –
I’ve learned to embrace what’s commonly called the shitty first draft because, after all, it amounts to many, many words on many, many pages. Often 50,000 – such an achievement! Writers everywhere will admire your word count, which is a winning score in NANWRO https://nanowrimo.org
You’ve nailed the narrative of your life, the desires your heart wants to express. You’ve triumphed over writer’s block, Bunky.
You’ve dared. You’ve conquered platitudes and the plague of defeating thoughts. You’ve conquered demons. You’ve salvaged your heart. In that place, your heart, you’re never wrong. That only happens in your fault-finding mind – from messages you’ve received over a lifetime. From others. Now you’ve given yourself permission to ignore them. You own your slate, absolved of wrong and primed for right.
Now that’s a pep talk!
And to do anything in life means no fear of being wrong. (And the strength to admit when we are.)
Thanks, Alex… my life role is Appreciator, a perpetual cheerleader for myself and others, with a nearly unquenchable positivity. It’s a gift.
I agree with Alex. It’s a great way to look at making mistakes. Loved your quotes.
Thanks, Natalie, forever and today.