A Poor Finisher

I just read an article in which a well-respected artist referred to himself  a "poor-finisher," referring to the habit of starting and then abandoning many projects before ever completing anything. He asserts that this is a widely-shared characteristic among creative people, and that art is generally richer for it. Here is that article on line.

I needed to read that this morning, because if ever there was a poor finisher, it's me. Creative projects big and small take hold of me, and I may work obsessively until the idea peters out and I move on to something else. On the other hand, sometimes I can write complete, well-crafted songs, practically one after the other, in just hours or even minutes. Or I can produce complete drawings and/or paintings almost compulsively for days or weeks on end. But I have journals and notebooks and sketchbooks filled with starts and ideas and sketches and half verses never revisited.

Similarly, I started this blog as a "writing and recording project," but over time, I found it hard to complete posts, so I have come to rarely write anything. But perhaps I need to let go of trying to finish things and just post more of what's going on in my head on the "better out than in" principle.

Hemingway's famous advice to himself was, write one true sentence, and then go on from there." My true sentence for today is, "I am a poor finisher."

Just Noodlin'

I referred someone here today and just noticed I haven't posted in nearly a year. So this post is to preempt waiting until August and having to post a, "wow, it's been a whole year!" post. I've actually played out a bit since my last post, including at a wedding and a couple of school shows complete with bands. Added some new covers, dropped some others. And so on.

Been playing around the house a lot more these days now that my shoulder is better (I had a shoulder injury for over a year that caused me pain whenever I played). Enjoying digging out some of my old songs and trying to update them a bit. Now that we're all so wired up (or wirelessed up, as it were), I can pull out my smart phone and record stuff whenever I want. Not like the old days when I had to rig up a mixing board, mikes and a tape deck. As a consequence, seems like I hardly ever do record stuff. But I should, and then just wisk it right up here on the blog with all the immediacy of the Interwebs. Reckon I'll get right on that and make something of myself. And of this little blog of mine.

Well, okay; bye.