Dear Bryce #004

Welcome to Dear Bryce! This is the Nine Muses advice column where I (Bryce Dallas Howard) humbly respond to your questions about navigating the entertainment industry and beyond. If you’re wondering how to balance life and work, seeking answers about the storytelling and filmmaking process, or just want to know more about a favorite past or upcoming project, stay tuned for more of Dear Bryce! 

This week, a reader asks… 

I am an aspiring concept artist and storyteller. I've learned to establish relationships between things that don't readily correlate. It's like a super power. I use it on my journey towards mastery of my craft and even weave it into my life. I am very curious what philosophies, if any, have you adopted or come up with that have helped you on your journey?

I love that idea of finding relationships, not only in art-making, but as we move through the world, being a person who seeks to make connections rather than create divisions. If you don’t mind dear reader, I might bring that into my own practice! 

As for my philosophies, when I teach the Nine Muses Lab, one of the first things I establish with my students are a few personal “operating principles.” Essentially, there are a handful of sayings and quotes that guide my life and my creative process.

I think one of the earliest sayings came from my Grandad Rance Howard. He was a realistic person and often said to his kids and grandkids, “You can’t separate the pain from the pleasure.” 

The order in which he listed those two givens in life — pain then pleasure — was intentional. In his lifetime, Grandad was someone who put one foot in front of the other and experienced extraordinary loss in his life. But he wasn’t defined by those losses. He defined himself by how he responded to tragedies that came his way.

What I’ve adopted from my grandfather is the truism that good can come from bad; that miraculous things are born from loss. He taught us that though the pain in life comes first, it is inextricably linked to pleasure, and that’s what I hold onto. 

Another tenet I prescribe to is no complaining and solution-based thinking. Because no matter how much venting might ease frustration in the moment, it won’t improve the situation at hand. Artists can have a bad reputation for being self-pitiers, whiners, and complainers, but storytellers are effectively professional problem-solvers, so we should live up to the role!

Viktor Frankl, who endured far worse than anything that could happen on a set, summed it up when he wrote, “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing; the last of the human freedoms; to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.”

And the last quote I’ll share is less of a philosophy and more of a reminder that I keep in the back of my mind to consistently hone my craft.

Radio host and producer Ira Glass (This American Life) said, “All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you…  It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take a while. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”

And while Ira Glass focuses on the “first couple years,” I am constantly thinking about ways in which I can bridge the gap between my taste and skills. If I’m in a situation in which I’m not satisfied with what I’ve developed, I take it as a sign that there’s another lesson or skill for me to practice and add to the toolbox.  

Here’s to making connections and finding the truisms that guide us along the way!

xo

bdh

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