I think this is why artists and writers don't like to talk about projects they're working on. They're not being coy; if they talk the idea out too much, they lose the spark to get it done.

Interesting article, seanyboy.

This has certainly been true for me.

I find the opposite is true in my life, I've purposely talked up plans that I have just to make sure that I'd feel too ashamed to not go through with them. I don't think that I would have gone through the whole process of applying to grad school and getting funding for it if I hadn't already told all my friends and family that I was planning on it.

I'm not really buying it in general, and I say that as someone who tends to keep things private, but mainly because I hate having to explain myself. I've found that when I do share goals, it gives me extra accountability and support.

I also think the attitude of "People who talk about it don't actually do it" has finally been debunked when talking about suicide, and I'd hate to see it come back, because I think it did a lot of harm.

That's immediately what I thought, BoringPostcards, it really is true for a creative process. That, and the very real possibility of failure. For my recent audition, I had to learn an Irish accent. In a week. It was hard. I didn't talk about it, I just gathered resources and worked on it. One of the resources I found was an audio book of a Frank McCourt memoir. He's the author of "Angela's Ashes," which he wrote late in life. In the memoir, he talked about talking about big plans to write earlier in his life, and not getting it done.

This may also explain why any type of support group makes me much more insane.

So true. Remember, All work and no play make Jack a dull boy.

My favorite failed writer movie, though, has to be Chevy Chase's Funny Farm. Lamb testicles never tasted so good. (If you're a writer -- shhh, don't tell us -- you must see this movie.)

Hey Pips, Frank McCourt taught in NYC public schools for 30 years - this memoir was called "Teacher Man," if you're interested.

30 years... poor man. With 7 notches in my belt (paddle?), I only have 19 more to go. Sigh. (Lately, I've been considering alternate careers -- though I do love summers off.) A good friend of mine just retired after 37 years.

Teacher Man... I'll definitely check that out. (I could buy it for my new Kindle, which should be here any minute! Weird coincidence, I bought it as an early birthday gift to myself, and the UPS scan time for its arrival was 7:14 this morning, and my birthday's 7/14. Weird, huh? I tend to take little coincidences like that as small gestures from my birth parents, who died about ten years ago. As though the present's from them -- nutty, I know. Now, if I'd only played that megamillions...)

(Plus, the price just went down from $359 to $299, and Amazon refunded the difference for me after I emailed them... I'm just sayin'.)

If I talk about something in the creative field that I am up to, I feel like I am "stealing the thunder" of that idea.

Even recently in MeMusic, I talked about a project and as soon as I did, it lost it's impetus.

Glad you got the refund, pips! I saw last night that they had lowered the price, I was hoping you didn't get stiffed.

I'm with octothorpe. Hell, I've even posted here on the subject, kind of.

Funny. I had been urging myself to be more open about things like my current health goals (diabetes management, etc.) and maybe it's better that I haven't.

I do wonder, though, whether there are personality types or life conditions for which this works better than for others. Something along the way that affirmations only help if you already have good self-esteem, but make you feel worse if you don't.

About 10 years ago I was on this short-lived kick that I was going to own a salon. I was already a nurse and getting kind of tired of it and thought I would like to do skincare as a "para-professional" in a doctor's office. You know how many dermatologists and plastic surgeons nowadays have a part of their office dedicated to beauty treatments (laser, botox, facials, etc.)? Well I thought I wanted to do that without researching much. I did not, and do not, have a skincare or any other cosmetology license. I didn't know the first thing about running a successful business. I was just blurting out to some of my friends, that were also nurses, that I wanted to do skincare and eventually own my own skincare spa. I think if I really wanted to do it, I would have. It was sort of an impulsive, naive, and short-lived desire and I should have kept it to myself.

I think it's very true, but i've thought of it as turning something into a story or an anecdote instead of letting it be whatever it's intended to be.