Elizabeth Gilbert, author of surprise bestseller Eay Pray Love, dazzled with an eloquent, fluent, graceful talk. It didn't appear to be memorized, and yet the most perfect prose just flowed from her mouth.
She admitted to fear that Eat, Pray, Love might be the best thing she would ever write, dooming her later works (and life) to being described as 'after' her big success. She felt discouraged by that notion and feared falling into the unhappiness so typical of artists and writers.
Then she reset her frame. The Greeks and Romans considered not that people were geniuses, but that genius came to them. When Gilbert thought of things that way, she felt released. Her big success was not just hers, and her failures were likewise not just hers. If she 'shows up for work', it's the job of her muse to deliver the inspiration.
This talk is already up at TED.com and I recommend it highly to you:
http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html
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