Wednesday, August 5, 2009

refining the lens

So, right. Since BlogHer, I've been thinking a lot about writing. Less worried about HOW to write, more worried about WHAT to write. Always been worried about the STORY. Always been worried about the PITCH. I am way way too self-aware about my writing. I had a great thing happen at BlogHer: a smart, sassy, well-meaning soul asked me in the middle of the Sparklecorn Extravaganza, "When you write, who do you write for?" and I was mildly aggravated. This was a deep (I thought) existential question and I couldn't be expected to answer it when Prince was exhorting me to Go Crazy and there was a gigantic unicorn cake winking at me over my left shoulder.

But. It was an excellent question, from someone who was trying to help me jumpstart things a little.

People at my meetings talk often about how we are "egomaniacs with inferiority complexes." That is me to a T, people. I could never get journal-writing off the ground in my adolescence because I pictured the media dying of boredom when they ultimately got hold of them after I became world-famous (for what I did not yet know) I would always do a lot of PLANNING but never a lot of WRITING.

The Saturday of BlogHer, my beloved cousin and I went out for dinner and I was telling her a wacky story about me in my 20s, and my cousin shook her head and smiled, saying, "you HAVE to start writing some of this shit down..."

So I feel like a novice artist doing still lifes of apples and wine bottles. Maybe a little dull, but important in refining one's talent and getting comfortable with the craft.

Belated answer to the Sparklecorn question, Miss K, is that I write for Me, and I'm gonna stop worrying about You, and it's all good. You've helped me more than you know.

2 comments:

Sallyacious said...

I think, ultimately, all artists must create for ourselves, if we want to get to the truth of things and make honest art. That's true for writing, painting, performance... Those core truths are what resonate with everyone else, because they're ultimately something that humans share.

That makes our jobs more about trying to find the courage and the technique and the most powerful, clearest way to express those truths, and much, much less about whether we're going to please anybody else.

Unknown said...

I write a blog for my website Tuscan Home Decor & Design. Some days I have a never-ending stream of ideas and other days i just look at a blank page and think "What the heck do I want to say?"
I really related to your statement about journaling... I used to think my life was so boring. I resolved to journal every day when I turned 50 this past summer. So far, so good. Maybe I will actually take the next step and blog about it soon!