Two Bits Of Artistic Perspective

A good musician works out as many mistakes as he can ahead of time, and then when it comes time for the performance, he doesn't kick himself for the mistakes he makes.

When Tolkien wrote The Lord Of The Rings, he came up with a seed idea first, something very simple, something very elemental, and then he just built and built on that, like an oyster adding layer upon layer of film onto sediment, to create something like a pearl that was very complex and well-developed indeed.