We need better words for failure

We need better words for failure. At least when it comes to creative pursuits.

It’s one thing if you fail to calculate the correct stress expected on a support beam in an architectural structure. It’s another matter entirely with many, if not most creative pursuits. By which I mean writing a song, developing a painting, even working in a lab on an experiment you have an idea about but need to play with through a series of steps. There are plenty of other examples.

You have to get inside the project, sometimes before you even understand it.

So, God help me, I’m going to quote those infamous words of Donald Rumsfeld.

“Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don't know we don't know. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tends to be the difficult ones.”

Specifically related to this quote, in our country and the world at large, we are in the latter category.

But that’s not why I’m using this quote. Without going into any sort of song and dance, I’m bringing this Substack experiment to an end. I will continue elsewhere, yet to be determined.

In a variety of ways, Substack does not suit me or my needs. I didn’t understand the platform until I started using it. Now I understand that it’s become much like any other social media platform. It’s become very crowded and distracting. Substack may be soliciting my reader list for other publications. And my original intention for using this platform has changed over the last year.

Substack turned out to be its own unknown unknown — and, as it turns out, so were my own needs.

So, like so much in the world we now live in, I am morphing. It’s a good thing. My painting in progress at top of this post is a preview of pending explorations.

Questions? Comments? Please leave those below. I’d love to hear from you.

I’ll leave this channel open for a little while and will advise on my new location soon.

Too mysterious? Well, stay tuned.