Do You All Know This Ira Glass Quote?

Actually, I guess I should back up a step—do you all know Ira Glass? He’s a journalist and host of the radio program This American Life on NPR. If you’ve never heard it, I’ve seen it described as “journalistic non-fiction.” Between that phrase and the fact that it’s on public radio, you might think it would be a snooze-fest, but I assure you it’s not. You should definitely check it out. They have a podcast as well, if you’re not the sit next to the radio type.

Ira Glass said something once, and a lot of writers and other creative types usually stumble upon it at some point if they’re searching the web for some kind of inspiration (and when are creatives not looking for that?). Here’s the quote:

Nobody tells people who are beginners — and I really wish somebody had told this to me — is that all of us who do creative work … we get into it because we have good taste. But it’s like there’s a gap, that for the first couple years that you’re making stuff, what you’re making isn’t so good, OK? It’s not that great. It’s really not that great. It’s trying to be good, it has ambition to be good, but it’s not quite that good. But your taste — the thing that got you into the game — your taste is still killer, and your taste is good enough that you can tell that what you’re making is kind of a disappointment to you, you know what I mean?

A lot of people never get past that phase. A lot of people at that point, they quit. And the thing I would just like say to you with all my heart is that most everybody I know who does interesting creative work, they went through a phase of years where they had really good taste and they could tell what they were making wasn’t as good as they wanted it to be — they knew it fell short, it didn’t have the special thing that we wanted it to have.

And the thing I would say to you is everybody goes through that. And for you to go through it, if you’re going through it right now, if you’re just getting out of that phase — you gotta know it’s totally normal.

And the most important possible thing you can do is do a lot of work — do a huge volume of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week, or every month, you know you’re going to finish one story. Because it’s only by actually going through a volume of work that you are actually going to catch up and close that gap. And the work you’re making will be as good as your ambitions. It takes a while, it’s gonna take you a while — it’s normal to take a while. And you just have to fight your way through that, okay?

This isn’t the first time I’ve shared this quote—I went back and looked, and I originally shared it in this post from 2014 (have I really had this blog that long?) when I had found a very old story of mine, realized how bad it sucked and how much better my current writing was at the time. And the reason this quote has been on my mind lately is because I’ve once again found evidence of my improvement, although in a slightly different way.

As a nigh shifter and father of a 5 year old, sleep often eludes me. Hell, I’ve been perpetually exhausted now for…well, for 5 years. As such, reading for pleasure became very difficult (as did writing, for that matter). But thanks to some changes in my life, not to mention my lifestyle, I’m getting a wee bit more sleep and am managing to read a little most days. I’ve read a half dozen books this year! I know that’s a laughably small amount to many of you, but baby steps, you know? The point is, as I’ve been reading I’ve noticed something: when compared to my own writing, much of what I’m reading doesn’t seem completely unattainable anymore, does that make sense? I used to read what I’d written, then go read a book (any book) and instantly go, “god, I suck. I’ll never be this good.” But now, I realize how much less I suck. I mean, all writers think they suck always and forever, don’t they? 🙂 But I can see that the gap has narrowed, and holy moly is that encouraging.

So if you’ve never read that Ira Glass quote before, here you go. And if you have, in my humble opinion it’s usually worth reading again. Either way, I hope it’s helpful to you.

PS—Although I don’t write many reviews, I am on Goodreads to track what I’m reading and so I don’t forget about books I want to read. I would love to have more friends on there, so if you’re so inclined by all means look me up and add me.