Mason Currey
American writer on how artists work; author of Daily Rituals: How Artists Work, Daily Rituals: Women at Work and Making Art and Making a Living, and of the newsletter Subtle Maneuvers.
Everything they publish, on ppll ↗
Mason Currey did not write this page.
We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
The line under a date shows how recently it was said: empty within a month, full after three years.
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Their wordsThat last line really struck me, because of course that’s right—all creative work proceeds through surges of doubt and confidence, and maybe the test of a successful practice is if it keeps you flowing from one state to the other, cyclically, and doesn’t let you get mired in either phase for too long.
↗How to move from doubt to confidence (Subtle Maneuvers)masoncurrey.substack.com
- 2 months earlier
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Their wordsMoney is such a paltry measure of a thing’s worth, and yet it’s the measure we all live by, as Van Gogh knew all too well.
↗Seven signs you’re a real artist (Subtle Maneuvers)masoncurrey.substack.com 1st of 2 in this piece
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Their wordsThis is one of the throughlines of all my books and this newsletter: that in some fundamental sense, the best creative work happens when you don’t know what you’re doing (or how you’re going to pay for it)—when you get yourself outside your comfort zone and then stay there, and keep returning there as much as you can.
↗Seven signs you’re a real artist (Subtle Maneuvers)masoncurrey.substack.com 2nd of 2 in this piece
- 4 weeks earlier
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Their wordsIt’s a dilemma faced by countless young people, and many not-so-young, and there is no easy answer, though plenty of people will tell you otherwise.
↗How to be a writer with a day job (Subtle Maneuvers)masoncurrey.substack.com 1st of 2 in this piece
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Their wordsBut I sincerely believe that by showing how some brilliant minds through history confronted the question—how they thought about it, what choices they made, and how those choices influenced the art they made and their larger careers—we can be better resourced to navigate this dilemma in our own lives.
↗How to be a writer with a day job (Subtle Maneuvers)masoncurrey.substack.com 2nd of 2 in this piece
- 4 weeks earlier
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Our reading
Whether a piece of work is alive is the fundamental question to ask of it, though not the only one
Their wordsIs this, in fact, the only question we need to ask ourselves about our work? Well, OK, no—not the only one. But I do agree that it’s the fundamental question, and I know that I’ll forgive a piece of writing (or a piece of whatever) all sorts of shortcomings as long as it passes this essential first test.
↗The only question we need to ask ourselves about our work (Subtle Maneuvers)masoncurrey.substack.com 1st of 2 in this piece
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Their wordsBetter a dubious idea vivaciously executed than something that has been ever-so-dutifully thought through, all bases covered. Writing doesn’t need to cover its bases; sometimes a work’s faults and omissions are part of what makes it compelling.
↗The only question we need to ask ourselves about our work (Subtle Maneuvers)masoncurrey.substack.com 2nd of 2 in this piece
The line under a date fills as the words age, a quarter at a time: past a month, six months, a year, and three years. Empty means said within the last month; full, more than three years ago. It says when, not whether it still holds — a change of mind is marked on the claim itself.
Dashed means we only know the words existed by that date; they may be older.