Art to do or not to do? (From A Pocket Full of Poesy)

Who really gives a crap about art, anyway?
The artist slaves away,
All day,
In solitude and self annihilation,
For the hope of some acylation,
Which may or may not eventuate,
It may be after they’re dead, too late.
Writing a poem, song or book,
Painting a picture to hang in a nook.

But art is undervalued
And maybe it should be,
It doesn’t provide survival for me,
Except for our souls, it speaks to a deeper part
Of the human heart.
It should be seen as essential
And a link to the spiritual
Instead of relegated and delegated
To a place of marginalization,
Or condescension
Because it cannot be measure by the money you make,
Or the time it can take,
It cannot be measured in a laboratory,
Or simplified in its glory.

It takes its place in life,
Amidst all our strife,
Never to go away,
Heaven forbid the day,
That we ignore the beauty and vulnerability,
Of artistic expressions,
Or let science, progress or materialism bull doze our inner artistic impressions.

Art, to do or not to do?
What would I have if I didn’t have you?
It’s not really a question that a real artist entertains,
For what else would they do with their brains?
They are wired to create,
Something thought provoking, and hopefully, great,
That can cause people to pause or sigh
Or even to cry,
That can call us deeper into the question of why?
That may simply provide a space to reflect,
In parts that we often neglect,
And allow us enjoyment,
Meaning replacing bewilderment,
Love instead of despair,
Hope, and sometimes, someone to care.
An artist, to be or not to be?
It is not a choice I make, it is who I am-me.

To write or not to write...

Hello again

I think every writer questions whether they are doing the right thing in devoting their time to writing. It is probably the same with any artistic field, as there are little or slow rewards for creating art. In the ABC short story competition I participated in recently, one of the winners talked about how she felt torn between her family, working and writing. I have heard other authors say the same thing, they questioned what they were doing constantly. Writing can present so many frustrations, but if you have an overwhelming urge to create you will not be able to give it up.

When you start to take your art more seriously it becomes more obvious that there is a lot of work and pain involved. Tangible results may or may not eventuate. One never knows. You always hope, but in art you can never guarantee it. No one really knows if they will ever be recognised by anyone or indeed if they should be.

The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Thanks for reading.

Year of the Novel and Writers Groups

Hello everyone

Next week is our third Year of the Novel session, I am looking forward to it.

It is very useful as we learn so much about the creation of tension through conflict and how to structure this tension etc. I have been so spurred on by simply talking to other writers. I am looking forward to our third meeting, to seeing the same writers again and bonding over our efforts or non efforts since we last talked.

I am also wondering about a writers group. The hardest thing with writing is not having peers, people who can tell you where you are in the scale of things. All of the famous authors and indeed artists of many types had peers and famous ones at that, that were able to tell them where they were and how to improve themselves. So my question is, how do I get into that situation?

Hemmingway was friends with F Scott Fizgerald (I think), Mary Shelley was married to the poet Percy Shelley, Van Gogh hung out with (somewhat famous at the time) impressionist painters like Gaugain and Manet and others. Bob Dylan immersed himself in folk music and lived in Greenwich Village and met the right people. He met his idol, Woodie Guthrie, was given a guitar from Johnny Cash and knew various other people. I realise I am not as talented as these people, especially Hemmingway, I am not comparing myself to any of these artists. However, the concept is there that along with their talent they also were able to build on this and make it even better. But, even having another writer with similar desires would probably be beneficial to my work. Venero, in last time's session said he had a friend who had similar writing goals and they set each other tasks for one year. This kind of spurring on would be great.

I realise I am not in the league of the above artists, but I do want to try and develop as much as possible the skills I have. So anyway, I am seeking out a writers group hoping this can help.

In a way I have answered my own questions, I need to go to more events and eat, sleep and breathe writing. Does anyone else feel this way?

By the way, I saw this website recently that showed you if you have a life span of 80 years how many seconds you have left and the timer was ticking away furiously, counting it down. It disturbed me a little and I got off the website. However, since then I have had this feeling about death and about how we have little time really, to do things with our lives. Nobody really knows how much time we have. It makes me think many things, about my spiritual life and about my writing. So I am trying to move forward every day. To progress in many ways, and writing being one of them, every day.

Good luck with whatever you put your hand to and think a bit more deeply about life today...