Two Days O' Twyla: "Build Your Own Validation Squad"

Once more unto the breach: Twyla Tharp on Validation...

"Look around you. 

Who are the brightest, 

most talented people you know? 

Choose them, 'qualify' them... 

and then get them involved.

 All you need is people with good judgment in other parts of their lives who care about you and will give you their honest opinion with no strings attached. The last point is crucial. All things being equal, the validation that matters most is the kind that comes with no agenda."

Tharp also quotes the great director Billy Wilder: "If I like something, I am lucky enough, fool enough, or smart enough to believe that other people are going to like it too." 

"As we mature," Tharp writes, "we need to build criticism into the working process, as we do failure."

Dux femina facti

 Nice job. Twyla Tharp: 

"The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It For Life"

Tweeting Twyla's Mad Skills: Tharp, on Learning from Failure

First off, thanks to Merlin Mann for mentioning Twyla's book in a Tweet. 

In "The Creative Habit," Twyla says:

 "When you fail in public, you are forcing yourself to learn a whole new set of skills, skills that have nothing to do with creating and everything to do with surviving.

     Jerome Robbins liked to say that you do your best work after your biggest disasters. For one thing, it's so painful it almost guarantees that you won't make those mistakes again. Also, you have nothing to lose; you've hit bottom, and the only place to go is up. A fiasco compels you to change dramatically. The golfer Bobby Jones said, 'I never learned anything from a match I won.' He respected defeat and he profited from it."

A Window on Creativity: Twyla Tharp, Amy Tan, and Han Feng

Amy Tan speaks on creativity, for TED.

Twyla Tharp writes on creativity, and Merlin Mann thinks 

it's one of the best books on the subject he's ever read. 

I, for one, bought the book right away, 

on the strength of Mr. Mann's conviction. 

I like his style, and he knows from creative.

Han Feng has done the costumes for the upcoming premiere, 

at the San Francisco Opera, 

of Amy Tan's

The Bonesetter's Daughter.

And more, from New York Times, on The Bonesetter's Daughter.

May your weekend be creative and full of life. 

As Goethe implored, 

"...turn around, and dare to be happy."

This post is dedicated to my amazing sister: 

good luck, next week, and many blessings. 

This is a remarkable voyage that you embark on: 

fair winds, and following seas.