Match to Flame 165

Jan 4, 2022

The moment came along, and I mentioned it to no one. I’ve learned the hard way that you should never tell anyone about a story until you can hand it to them to read. This point was especially cogent now that I was pretty much keeping my own counsel and eschewing the advice of . . . let’s just say the universe, to cover my bases. Ideas that you speak about before they’re fully formed are like little birds that then fall from the sky and lie on the ground with their feet pointing up in the air (even if you’re just talking to yourself, the universe hears; trust me on this). There’s even an inverse correlation to this thinking. Sometimes, not telling anyone can bring a sense of energy and excitement to a creative endeavor. Much like the Beatles working on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in seclusion for a year, or Bruce Springsteen walking around with a homemade cassette containing Nebraska in his back pocket for a summer, or the ten years Andrew Wyeth worked in secret on the Helga paintings (again, if you’re going to identify . . . ). There’s something secretly thrilling when you know you’re working on something special, and the world has no idea that it’s coming.

From the introduction to The Complete Funky Winkerbean Volume 10

 

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