Ira Glass

The more interesting part of Ira's discussion was the fact that one must "kill" the inferior parts of one's work. Now, Mr. Glass was referring to this idea from the perspective of radio broadcasting, but it is a notion that everyone can relate to, but one that only the most adept succeed in implementing.

At the beginning of any creative process, one will inevitably end up with "crap", as Ira so honestly put it. From my own experience, I can say that whether I am writing a poem, drafting a Magic deck, or composing a piece of music, only a miracle will result in a consummate first copy. The hardest part of revising this crap is weeding out certain lines, cards, notes, or phrases to add to the overall meaning or efficiency of the piece. This task becomes particularly daunting when I must remove a fragment of the work that I have taken a particularly intimate liking to, let's say it's a line in a poem. I may know very well that it needs to be removed for the overall success of the piece, though when I remove that single line, it feels as if part of me has contracted a terrible disease and died a gruesome death. So, Ira is right--in order to be successful, one must be willing to murder the crap he or she creates for the good of his or her work. Unfortunately, just identifying this fact isn't enough, and the real struggle is actually getting rid of some part of your work that you have grown attached to.