OK, I’ve got three quick housekeeping issues today. If you’re not interested, skip down to the header below and get right to the good stuff!
- First, get on over to my post at Freelance Writing Jobs Business Tips on 53 Sure-Fire Ways to Lose Clients. That, or just subscribe to the feed and keep update on all of the useful tips and advice for your freelance writing business.
- You should also vote for Angie’s Pangie’s blog over at CD Kitchen. If you don’t know, Angie Pangie is my beloved wife and an amazing cook. Take my word for it, she deserves your vote.
- I also wanted to remind you that Thursday is the last day to secure your seat at Copywriting Success Summit 2009 at the early-bird discount rate (a $200 savings, 40% off the regular price!).
This is the premier online event for writers (from beginners to veterans) who want to generate better-quality leads, win higher-caliber clients and earn more.
If you want to grow your writing business, you’ll want check this out. Grab your seat at this online event before the $200 discount ends. And don’t forget they’re also including all of the sessions from the 2008 summit at no added cost.
Go here now: Copywriting Success Summit 2009
All right, let’s get on with it, shall we?
Michelangelo and Freelance Writing
You probably don’t realize it, but Michelangelo didn’t want to paint the Sistine Chapel. You see, the artist who created the Pieta and David saw himself as a sculptor. Like any artist at the time, he knew how to handle a brush, but his passion (and most of his income up to that point) had been due to his proficiency as a sculptor.
Not only did Michelangelo see himself as a sculptor rather than a painter, he’d never attempted painting a fresco.
It wasn’t Michelangelo’s idea to paint the chapel. It was a scheme, initiated by Michelangelo’s enemies, to trip him up. They thought he’d do a bad job and be discredited. At the very least, they knew his work would be off the market for several years while he worked on the Sistine Chapel. They managed to convince the Pope that Michelangelo was the right artist for the job.
Now, if you lived in Rome in 1508, you couldn’t tell the Pope, “No thanks, I’m a sculptor.”
Inexperience wasn’t the only obstacle Michelangelo faced, however. To paint a ceiling, the artist has to be positioned on his back on top of a scaffold, for hours on end. The scaffold raises the artist within just inches of the ceiling.
For four years, Michelangelo painted in this way.
The details of Michelangelo’s ordeal were chronicled by Ascanio Condivi, one of Michelangelo’s students, and eventually his biographer. For more from Condivi (and the source material for this article), check out Eye Witness to History. Here’s a bit of what Condivi had to say about what happened after the Sistine Chapel was done:
“After he had accomplished this work, because he had spent such a long time painting with his eyes looking up at the vault, Michelangelo then could not see much when he looked down; so that, if he had to read a letter or other detailed things, he had to hold them with his arms up over his head. Nonetheless, after a while, he gradually grew accustomed to reading again with his eyes looking down. From this we may conceive how great were the attention and diligence with which he did this work.”
What does all of this have to do with freelance writing? I don’t think I have to paint you a picture. Here are the lessons I walked away with from Michelangelo’s tale:
- Expanding beyond our comfort zone just might open up new opportunities. Don’t be afraid to try new kinds of freelance writing, especially if you’re new to the game.
- Don’t let your enemies or detractors get to you. Chances are, history will forget their names anyways.
- Being the best freelance writer you can be sometimes means keeping your gaze upward, whether you want to or not.
- Dilligence in the face of difficult or tedious work often yields amazing success. Don’t believe me? Just take a look:
5 comments ↓
Bob, I think the message of this post is fantastic, but I have to jump in and correct you on one of the biggest errors surrounding Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel. He did not paint on his back! The scaffolding that was used positioned the painters (Michelangelo and his assistants) so that they could reach it by standing up, arching their backs, and then painting with their arms extended above them.
This is actually an even worse scenario, as Michelangelo often complained in his letters of how much his back hurt as a result and included sketches of himself in the position to illustrate how much it hurt. Sorry to be nitpicking on a good post, but the scaffolding really didn’t put him within inches of the ceiling.
Bartoneus´s last blog ..Critical Bits for the week ending 2009-09-19
@ Bartoneus – thank you for the info! From what I can tell, you’re right. Good catch.
The Condivi quote checks out, and it makes more sense if Michelangelo was standing that his eyes would gravitate upwards.
Funniest way ever to teach someone how to become a freelance writer…
Now, if you lived in Rome in 1508, you couldn’t tell the Pope, “No thanks, I’m a sculptor.”
ahahahhahahhahha
Felisha Wheeler´s last blog ..Club Toys that always attract you
Bob,
Thanks for presenting these wonderful lessons that can be learned about writing from Michelangelo. The persistence and creativity of this master never cease to amaze and will undoubtedly continue to inspire writers (and other artists) for many years to come.
Excellent post!
Jeanne
[...] usually do that. Once I get over my goofy artistic pride (”WHAT?!? Did the Pope ask Michelangelo to revise the Sistine Chapel?!? This is OUTRAGEOUS!”) I usually just do the [...]
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