Countdown: 6!

We’re at 6 in our countdown to publication of Lichtenbergianism: procrastination as a creative strategy, and today we look at Precept #4: GESTALT.

Gestalt (pronounced geh-SHTAHLT) is German for “shape,” and in Lichtenbergianism it means “the shape of the whole,” that is, what your art would look like if it were complete.

After you’ve gotten your ABORTIVE ATTEMPT plopped out of your brain and are completely unsatisfied with it because it’s crap (because it wasn’t supposed to be good, remember?), the only thing to do is to step back and look at it as if you can see what it’s supposed to look like if you had done it right the first time, which you can not do in the first place.

Short version: look hard at your crap and see what’s wrong with it. Do not ask me what is wrong with my book, because I will have to go off in a corner and whimper.

There’s more to it, of course, which you can find out by buying Lichtenbergianism: procrastination as a creative strategy on Amazon, Fri, Nov 17.