A place where you can be human.
“Never write anything that does not give you great pleasure. Emotion is easily transferred from the writer to the reader.” -Joseph Joubert
I’m not sure the emotion is easily transferred. I’ll have to ask my readers about that. Yes, grammar feedback, but how did it make you feel? I forget to ask that when I request feedback. I think with my writing style, that’s an important question.
When you get eyes on your draft, what questions do you ask your readers to look for?
“Don’t be an art critic, but paint, there lies salvation.” – Paul Cézanne
It’s interesting because my first thought after reading this is: but we need art critics. That’s not the point here. Gaining feedback as an artist is imperative. I’m sure someone as skilled as Cezanne respects those who helped him perfect his art. What is being said here is that salvation lies in painting rather than criticism. The freedom from the weight of social expectation comes from the act of creating over and over and over again. There’s a point you reach in art, where you are grasped by the hand of creativity and flung into a world that requires no explanation. It is spirit. It is sacred and secret. It is holy and separate from the world where man pounds shit into your skull. That’s a bit dramatic, but the point is that there’s no salvation in being the critic because being the critic means you must rely on social norms in order to judge.
When you’re ready to be saved from the harshness of the world, art will undoubtably lead you by the hand.
“If you ask me what I came to do in this world, I, an artist, will answer you: I am here to live out loud.”
― Émile Zola
There it is! The good word for today. I’m not always loud, but I do my best to live that way. As writers, we get to live as loud as we want. We may limit our medium to words, but our life is ours to mold and make art out of. This isn’t limited to writers; I just want to talk to writers today. Writers, live your lives! Find your will to live while you share your stories.
What does living out loud look like to you?
“Art is not a thing; it is a way.” -Elbert Hubbard
This is very true for me. Regardless of how far I run, it finds me. It would pull me from beneath the bed by my ankles if I didn’t write every day. I love writing. I love that it’s my way of life. I am grateful for the liberation that it has brought me.
Is art a way for you?
“Art is not a handicraft, it is the transmission of feeling the artist has experienced.” -Leo Tolstoy
Art is how we process what we experienced. Those who do the work of the soul, connect deeply to art and can explain way. Those who don’t are given the tools to express what they feel. Either way, art connects us to our soul.
Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” -Thomas Merton
If art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves, I can’t help but think of how life would be if we treated it as a work of art. I don’t know that we ever truly lose ourselves, but continuing to learn to accept the deepest parts of ourselves is art. In a way, that could be considered finding ourselves over and over again.
I personally live my life as if this is my art. That’s what works for me.
What do you think about treating your life as a work of art?
“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” -Edgar Degas
I love the idea that we the reader and I are working together throughout this entire thing. For years, I’ve been quite the solitary person just writing and working on my craft. Universal themes, which make for good writing, require you to constantly bare your soul to yourself. If you are not conscious of yourself, how can you be conscious of anything universal? So writing definitely requires solitude. But then there comes this point in time when you get to share your work with the world. I only understand that on a small level. But I do feel like the readers complete the work of art. They bring it to fruition when the work gives them vision. When their imagination begins to rev up and create a new world in its own way, that is when my work is complete.
“You use a glass mirror to see your face; you use works of art to see your soul.” — George Bernard Shaw
You’re supposed to be writing.
The longer I write and the more I read about art and their own mediums, the more freedom I gain with words as my art. Every book about art is another book giving me permission to be the artist I am. Exactly as I am. They are my mirror outside of time. And that’s exactly what you are, a mirror outside of time. A mirror to little you. A mirror to other writers, dreamers, thinkers, and artists that find little pieces of themselves in your words.
Who’s your favorite artist?
“Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.” -Carl Jung
I’m going to stop apologizing for my self-expression. It’s time for me to hold it as sacred. And so now I’ve been trying to think about how I can talk about my work. I’m sharing something that is an extension of me. I need to remind myself that authentic self-expression is valuable.
So while I’m working on it, I want you to know that your self-expression is sacred. Don’t apologize for your work. Don’t warn people or prepare people for what’s to come. Invite them into your world and remind them that they get to be part of something special.
I’m still learning what that looks like for me.
For me, the writing process is the same as the reading process. I want to know what happens next. ” -Neal Asher
Writing has taught me so much. It’s taught me how to read. It’s taught me how to use my imagination. It’s gained me writing friends. Writing has taught me to ground myself in the present moment. Before I throw words on a page, I sit for a moment. I try to think of what I wasn’t able to say or what I wasn’t able to take the time to feel. Then I feel through it. Sometimes that’s where my writing content comes from.
How about you? Does writing bring you into the present moment?
Jayne.press