"As soon as you start thinking that you might, indeed, know it all, circumstances will conspire to set you straight."
Circumstances conspire against us all.
Just count the bromides about "conquering adversity" on your LinkedIn home page this morning and you'll know.
When you produce creative work, you need to wear a creative's mask, as director Sidney Lumet says in Making Movies.
"Creative work is very hard, and some sort of self-deception is necessary simply in order to begin. To start, you have to believe that it's going to turn out well. And so often it doesn't. I've talked to novelists, conductors and painters about this. Unfailingly, they all admitted that self-deception was important to them. Perhaps a better word is 'belief.' But I tend to be a bit more cynical about it, so I use 'self-deception.' The dangers are obvious. All good work is self-revelation. When you've deceived yourself, you wind up feeling very foolish indeed."
Setbacks punch through the mask. They sting, because they scream Fraud!
Mama said there'll be days like this.
