See, this is why I need comments -- they (the good ones) encourage me to keep writing. As anyone who writes knows, validation can make a world of difference. For all artists, if I may be so bold, the difference being that while there are many very confident musicians and actors, one hears less of the cocky writer. One springs to mind, a poet I spent time with some years ago, but I'd say he's the exception, not the rule.My father once told a group of summer interns (of which I was one), "Every day I wake up and think, today's the day they're gonna catch on to me." I think most of us feel like a fraud about one thing or another: my working-mom friends think that they're doing a half-assed job in both places. My entire writers' group (all four of us, soon to expand) wonder if we're really writers, and reprimand each other when we express self-doubt. As Brian says, "People don't realize that I only write because I don't know how to do anything else." We talk about this often; each time we complete an article or an essay we worry that that was the last good thing we'd ever write.
As I said, I'm working on a piece of fiction and this is starting to absorb a decent amount of creative energy, I'm happy-yet-hesitant to say (what if the first 3000 words I've written are the only ones I'll write?). And in the meantime, I'm writing professionally (press releases, web-based articles, that sort of thing) and occasionally checking in here. And this has turned out to be really helpful in terms of allowing me to pretend that I'm a writer. I've gotten a few compliments that have inspired me -- such as the email I just got from my shy friend, whose name I won't mention, but who appreciates the photos of Spain, the pretty ladies and the news about the gadget, as he calls Lou. My friend out west likes the poems.
If you paint a picture, are you a painter? How many times does an artist need to produce something to rightfully earn that title? Thanks to my amazing and supportive writers' group, I am obligated to continue with the aforementioned piece of fiction. I get paychecks for things I write. And with this odd little forum that still doesn't have a name, I'm writing because it's fun.
Louie prefers singing:
2 comments:
Today is the day you're going to catch on to us.
I'm reading Ken Casey's "Sometimes A Great Notion," which is monumental and an immense challenge in terms of tense, grammar and the layout of non-linear ideas. Ironically, it's slowly becoming a strong inspiration, something that has helped me structure m y own thoughts as well as plunder my mind even further. Why are great works those that are left un-edited? It reminds me of the odd disjointedness that I came across in Doris Lessing "Golden Notebook."
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