Art and Love

“There is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.” – Vincent Van Gogh

It’s no easy task, and it does take great skill and commitment to love those around you. Also, it takes a boldness that can at times feel distant. And I’m not only talking about the kind of love that leaves you breathless in a hallway.

Here’s the thing: when we learn to write, we have to take time to learn from the greats. Learning to love asks the same thing of us. Like any art, we have to stop and take time to learn how to love. It doesn’t have to be in the dark and all alone; we have excellent teachers who left guides for us on how to love. Some of them are still here.

Here’s the kicker: at the end of the day, the canvas of life is ours.

We have full permission to paint in detail with love and admiration as our mediums.

The best part is that we get to decide how that looks.

When’s the last time you picked up a paintbrush?

Let Your Light Shine

“Writing well has everything to do with being able to read one’s own work with an eye toward the unmet possibilities that are there.” ― Lucy Calkins

As an overthinker… I don’t advise looking for all the unmet possibilities in your near finished work. I’m laughing because I really think I’ve over-edited, and not as in this is the perfect, most flawless first novel ever known to man. But I often overthink and delete parts that maybe aren’t so bad. I do save all my edits, but that’s not the point. The point is don’t do this too much, but definitely during the first few drafts. Dream, inspire, fantasize—whatever gets the work finished. Then trust yourself. Trust your voice. And trust that you’re allowed to let it shine in your work.

What do you think the quote is saying?

Come Alive

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
― Howard Thurman

Yesterday, I wrote a post about believing in life, and I don’t take back what I said, but I also need to follow up by saying that I had stopped believing in a certain type of life.

I had to stop believing that this isn’t my life.

I had to shift from pushing through to welcoming the breath of life. I believe deeply in my life force and all it’s connected to. I believe it’s deeply powerful, and we’re often taught that there is some divine disconnect.

I don’t believe that.

I’m not some prodigal daughter, and I never have been. I was always connected. It was only the noise of this world that made me believe that I ever was.

Life is not just a term to believe in.

Life is the very breath that fills your lungs.

Life is not a belief, life is truth.

Good Morning

🌞Good morning,

Small Talk: I hear there’s a possibility for a snow storm this weekend. I’m a lover of winter weather and now that my iron is good, the cold doesn’t bite so hard which makes it even better!

☝🏽Gentle thought: Are you taking time to appreciate the work you’ve done? The writer’s life doesn’t have to feel invisible, join a writing community or use hashtags like #writerscommunity or even hashtags for the genre you write in! It’s ok to want to feel seen as a writer.

📝 In case you missed yesterday’s post, here’s a quote I shared.

“To be an artist is to believe in life.” – Henry Moore

I hope you have a warm day. 😊

Believe in Life

“To be an artist is to believe in life.” – Henry Moore

It took me a long time to learn to live. Once you really believe in life and all the tidbits it has to offer, you won’t want to take those tidbits away from others. Those who haven’t found the courage to believe in life won’t understand those who boldly stand up and say, “I believe in this life and all that it has to offer.” Once life becomes their truth, they wake up with renewed vigor along with a sense of awareness and accountability.

Confession Post

“Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant; there is no such thing. Making your unknown known is the important thing.” – Georgia O’Keeffe

Here’s a confession: I’m one of those women who easily gets swept up into hustle culture, but the truth is my spirit isn’t about that life.

I’m one who likes long-term connections, slow art, slow love, and my absolute favorite slow mornings.

The thing I had to learn was that hustle culture is not designed to see the soul stuff. 👉🏽 The exact stuff I adore in humans. 👈🏽

So I had to reframe my perception; I’m doing heavy lifting that others can’t see. And it became my job to affirm that instead of trying to measure up to a system that was never created for me.

How do you feel about hustle culture as a writer?

Writers Must Train not Only their Ear but also their Soul.

“The artist must train not only his eye but also his soul.” -Wassily Kandinsky

This quote can quickly get too philosophical for me. Souls, what are they and where do we find them? Do we find them, or are they just there when we arrive here? The point is that writing should be more than mastering technique and finding the perfect word. Those things are important, but we must ask on our journey: is writing limited to mastering those things? I don’t think so. Writing should inspire discomfort, shouldn’t it? It should take you from the status quo and invite you into new thoughts and ideas that those around you aren’t yet ready to entertain. I think this is a good reminder when we start to circle perfection and overthinking. It’s not just about perfection; it’s about you, the writer, becoming better than you were yesterday. Whatever that looks like, that is enough.

Concept of Humanity

“Without words, without writing and without books there would be no history, there could be no concept of humanity.” -Hermann Hesse

Here we are today, looking upon past mistakes to help guide us toward a better future because that’s what works. And that’s why we need writers. We need you to show up with all your scars and present them in a world that expects us to behave like machinery or furniture. It brings our current moments to life in a time when life could be snuffed out at the moment of confession. We need evidence of what it means to be human. We need to claim the worth of our words. I feel this most when I return to old texts.

While reading Ovid’s Metamorphoses, written around 8 CE, I’m whisked away from all the problems of this world. It feels less like a time machine and more like stories that give humans meaning. And what Ovid offers is not just an escape but meaning. According to Viktor Frankl, meaning is enough to sustain life.

In a similar way, I was validated while listening to Martin Luther King Jr.’s Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech. It lifted me right up from the darkness of this world. Not to ignore the tragedies taking place, this isn’t a toxic positivity post. It lifted me from hopeless despair into objective action. It validated my faith in humanity and reminded me that peace is an acceptable way to fight the good fight.

We write in our present moment to claim our humanity. That is the gift you receive from writing and reading allows us to receive it again.

Novels as Living Things

“Art Is Organic.” – Sarah Michelle Lynch

“Art is feeling the emotions of a story and not only subscribing to them but living them and absorbing them” -Sarah Michelle Lynch taken from Writing An Organic Novel Which Becomes a Living Organism

I came across this quote and had to share it. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the way my novel came into being. Honestly, I’ve been writing it for a long time, so I don’t remember the initial start of it, but I do remember when it became vital for me to become a part of it. I didn’t want to write it from a distance. I didn’t want it to be about characters I didn’t care to know. I had to welcome characters that grew as the story unfolded.

And you know what happened?

They came alive and led me out of what could have been a pretty dark place.

It’s one thing for me to love the idea of an organic novel; it’s another to show up to the page with all my vulnerabilities and the willingness to let my novel change me.

Artists are Here to Mix Things Up

“I believe in the possibility of art being disruptive and trying to break boundaries and resist prior tendencies and norms of society.” -Graciela Carnevale

Society can get complacent; that’s why writers are here to mix things up. We get to apply our skill set, natural or otherwise, to the consistent settling of society. Sometimes the world needs that one last push to remember its power or simply to see how far we’ve come in a good way.

Writers get to be the guardrails that steer humans away from passivity.

We do this by writing new ideas, shedding light on hidden evils, or by merely showing up to the table with our ink stains. For that reason, it can feel like there’s no real place for us in the world; on the contrary, this is our world, our place, our canvas. And that, my fellow artists, is a gift but only if you’re willing to accept it.

Featured image from https://www.artsy.net/artwork/graciela-carnevale-el-encierro-confinement-number-4