"I was at drag queen karaoke, and for some reason, I had the idea that I would sing "A Hundred Pounds Of Clay," which is a very old, sexist, retrograde song. And I am the person who could not make it past two sentences of it. And even the drag queens let me go without comment, which is really saying something at drag queen karaoke."
"You know it's - you know you cannot sing. I have no stomach for failing at karaoke, but one of the reasons why I'm a writer is I have a pretty good stomach for failing as a writer. And I'm so glad we're leading into this with stories of abject humiliation... 'Cause I think it's important thinking about a writing life."
Anecdotes of karaoke humiliation demonstrate that public failure can teach durability and acceptance of imperfect performance. Embracing abject humiliation helps normalize frequent creative failures and cultivates the ability to persist through rejection. A long-term creative life benefits from steady habits, patience, and a willingness to fail repeatedly. Single prescriptive rules about creative process should be treated skeptically; creative work requires individual practice and adaptive methods. Developing a tolerance for failure, learning from small embarrassments, and sustaining daily practice form the backbone of progressing from blank pages to finished fiction.
Read at www.npr.org
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