On Getting to the Magnificent Projects

There is a guilt that belongs to creative people, and it is this: the unfinished magnificent thing.

Not the ordinary unfinished thing. Everyone has those. The one that weighs differently is the one set aside because it deserved better than the hours available. The stone placed in a box for later. The idea written on a card to protect it from the ordinary rush. The project that required not just skill but a quality of readiness that hadn't quite arrived.

Some of those projects do not get finished. This is a fact about the life of making. Sitting with it honestly is better than arguing with it.

The stones in those boxes are not neglected. They are held. They are being kept safe from the wrong moment. There is a fidelity in knowing that something is too good for the ordinary afternoon and saying so out loud — even if the only audience is a card in a cigar box.

Not everything unfinished is behind schedule. Some things are simply waiting for the conditions they require.

The idea not yet brave enough to pursue. The conversation still assembling its courage. The version of yourself waiting for the quality of readiness that hasn't quite arrived. These are not failures. They are stones in boxes, addressed to someone who will recognize them.

The magnificent project is still magnificent. Its wait is not waste.

He kept the boxes tidy. He kept the cards current. He was not worried, I am getting to them.