“The first demand any work of art makes upon us is surrender. Look. Listen. Receive. Get yourself out of the way. (There is no good asking first whether the work before you deserves such a surrender, for until you have surrendered you cannot possibly find out.)”
– C S Lewis, An Experiment in Criticism
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Peony Moon 
I love this, I think it is so true…
Good old CS Lewis, he was often spot-on…
Good to catch up with your hoard of treasures here.
I agree, but it can be hard. It’s easier for me with a painting, because I just look at it a while before I go up to read what the curator has to say about it.
It’s an attitude we can also apply to our own writing. Write it first, surrender to the process. For years I wrote only in my head, but never allowed the words to come out on paper. Now I surrender to the images in my mind, and let them out.
I couldn’t agree more
Hear, hear. I love C’s comment and totally relate.
Oh, yes! Great advice. The hardest part is getting out of the way and letting characters be who they are. But when we give up ourselves, they come to life. Lovely!