Whine, whine, whine, whine.....wine

A great man once wrote, "Avoid distraction and the fashion of the moment. Keep your head down and tend to your own toil." Well, maybe not a great man -- I wrote it. This morning I spoke with a friend who is a painter by birth, not trade. And by painter I mean paintings not houses. By birth I mean that is what he is meant to do in a perfect world not his trade as a middle management paper shuffler in a large corporation. We talked about creativity and what we do to keep it alive. We spoke about the moments we steal here and there to keep our sanity balanced to work on our projects that seem to be buried more and more from the toils of our obligation. By the end of our visit I realized he had done the bulk of the talking. He had gone on and on and on and I only interjected twice. My God is that me? And in all I realized, it really isn't that bad. We're merely being selfish. If we truly are creative enough we can balance the world. Bullocks to it all which is more appealing whine or wine? Now I am not advocating drinking and writing; although it certainly worked for a great lot of guys and dolls. No, use the mantra I use with my students --- don't fret it, let it go. We're working on longer pieces these days and we are working less hours a week a writing. This ain't no sprint, but I expect to be in the winner's circle just as much.