Amateur is a word that really gets a bum rap. An amateur is one “who loves”, considering its root. That’s not to say, however, that one’s mere interest is adequate to make creative work valuable. Value, and its sibling quality, spring from other sources.
The story goes that Leonard Cohen’s son approached his father sheepishly, suggesting that his own new record ought to be cancelled. The younger Cohen claimed he faced a seemingly insurmountable writer’s block, that there was no more juice in the tank to buff it up, get it ready for release. According to the story, the senior poet didn’t lean over with a parental word of encouragement or a supportive expression about staying with a challenge. Instead, he admonished his son. He’s reported to have said, “That’s an amateur move.”
An amateur move?
Lest the story sound like its been sharpened by apocryphalphal retellings, it’s important to say that it was the younger Cohen, Adam, who told it. In many ways, it’s the kind of guidance that only a seasoned pro like Leonard Cohen could have offered. Taken correctly, it’s a huge moment of encouragement and support. Taken wrong, it sounds like a dismissal. Is is a hard knock? Certainly. Something like that is tough to hear, especially when the going gets rough. But if you’re doing good work, the going is always rough. Rarely does hard work simply emerge in polished form, and when it does just seem to show up on a ray of sunshine, it often comes when the artist isn’t in control of the circumstance, when the thing just shines in, unexpected, a surprise.
This stuff gets complicated.
The amateur move is to abandon a project when it’s hard to know how to complete it well. The amateur move is to say you don’t know how to find a conclusion, how to find more energy to finish a long simmering project, how to cut out parts that you know, deep down, simply gotta go.
A successful creative enterprise is something that reaches other people. Certainly an artist may be motivated by satisfaction or remuneration, but to be successful in any meaningful way is for an artist to communicate. That’s never easy to do well. It may be easier for some, it may be easier with practice, but quality and accomplishment are not simply functions of perseverance. Quality and accomplishment describe effort. They demonstrate a willingness to climb over hills that you didn’t know were in the terrain before you started.
There’s nothing wrong with being an amateur. Most of us are amateurs at most things in our lives. But to get something done, a get it done in a way that you want to share it with the world, requires a willingness to find resources you didn’t know you needed, and perhaps didn’t know you had.
Wanna see it? Just ask!
POST SCRIPT: Speaking of getting things done, did you know that we just released a substantial new documentary? It’s called NAVIGATING THE CURVE, and it’s about the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic in America. You can watch the film here, but you’ll need a password. (It’s currently password-protected while we’re shopping the film around to various outlets! Shout out! #navigatingthecurve ) If you’d like to watch it, please get in touch and we’ll make sure you get the password pronto!