While you're working on your technique...

Tom Peters blogs about an article in the New York Times (no free link, I’m sad to report) about singing.

What do singing and writing have in common? Much more than you might think, grasshopper.

"Put your life into what you do." "Your own humanity is your pathway to artistry." Beware "stilted speech." Students "hide inside technique." Conclusion: "The lesson Ms Cook came to teach was that artists achieve their peak when they learn to stop proving themselves and simply, to borrow the Shakespearean phrase, let it be. It’s their humanity we respond to in the end, their ability to strip away the self-consciousness that locks us inside ourselves, and reveal the stuff that really boils in our souls."

Never forget that: Your words can hide or reveal who you really are. People want to feel a connection with the real you, not a papier-mâché mask.