Real Artists "Chip"

I know , I know, the famous quote form Steve Jobs is "Real artists ship." And the wonderful Seth Godin has a whole book dedicated to artists and creatives getting to the work and simply shipping as a daily practice (his book is called "The Practice" after all.)

But there's this whole other way of doing the work, a wee bit at a time -- chipping away in a consistent manner... one little sliver more, one beat, one sentence, one stroke, one step... it's not a race. Chipping, you often have to step away for perspective, and then return to chip some more, and step back again to make sure you're chipping the right bits off.

Little and Often Make Much is a mantra that got me through writing a whole book and so many other things.

Keep chipping at it. Step away. Return. 

As Michelangelo remarked about the marble, the giant is sleeping within. We have to release him. But be careful not to knock off the nose or something because you were determined to simply chip away.