Welcome to Litsy!

I don't know what I wanted this book to be, maybe more inspiring, but it wasn't what I was hoping for.

The author explores what happens after very artistically gifted kids grow up.

I didn't find it as engaging as I had hoped.

This was a book I didn't know I needed, and upon reading it, realized just how badly I needed it. If that makes sense. Friedman played the viola and gave it up. She touched success as a writer with her first book, then struggled to touch it again. Getting to know her artistic childhood friends again, she shows us that the road to creativity and success is highly complex and highly personal, and it will always have its highs and lows.

"We're not supposed to long for things. We're supposed to act to get what we want, and longing is seen as inaction. Longing is complacency. Longing is refusing to be grateful (and upbeat) about what you have. Longing is misplaced nostalgia."

... (and still)

"We don't need to cure frustration and longing, because these feelings are a fundamental part of being human."

"We wind our way, sometimes very slowly, toward a creative medium in which we have talent, yes, but maybe even more important... we need to find one aligned with our temperament."

"There must be some warmhearted realistic view we could take of our own setbacks and frustrations without anchoring our identities to them."

"Nobody can decide for us when to stop trying, although others are more than happy to label us successes or failures based on their own definitions of where we are in the plot lines they've projected onto us. Ambition isn't static; like us, it changes over time."

"And while success has a relationship to the quality of creative work, art is subjective. We all know this, and yet you still must think carefully about how much external validation you need, if any, to keep going, to weather the inevitable ups and downs of touching it [success]."

"Besides, we all know wisdom doesn't come only from the light. It often comes from dark nights of the soul."

"And who was an artist? She was fiercely talented, ambitious, and uncompromising. She bucked convention. Her emotions were deep and profound, and the world clamored for her to share them."

I couldn't help myself, this one piqued my interest!

Were you a gifted and talented artistic child who grew up to be a mediocre adult too? Read this book! It's about that transition and learning experience that happens when a child who was told repeatedly that they were a big fish in a small pond learns that they're actually no great shakes and perhaps the artist's life isn't for them. I really enjoyed reading this.

For anyone who grew up gifted but ditched art & has asked, “What if?” Now you‘ll be asking, “Where has this book been all my life?” As a kid, Friedman played viola at Interlochen Arts Camp. Now she‘s a freelance writer questioning what creative success means. Talking to her campmates, she discovers a range of creative engagement & encourages us all to make peace with the possible selves of our pasts & rediscover the creativity within us all along.