“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”
The above quote, in slightly differing forms, has been variously attributed to Ernest Hemingway, Walter Winchell, Paul Gallico, etc.
No matter who originally said it, it’s true. Writing, especially creative writing, is like wrestling with demons in the dark. And if it is art, if it is true, it hurts. It tears your heart out.
What is art?
It is the song of your heart. It is self-expression. It is beauty; it speaks truth in the moment it is experienced. It is the creativity of the human spirit, outwardly expressed and shared with the world.
Every artist has to decide whether to be true to his art or sell out. “Cut this out, make these changes to make it more palatable for the masses. Don’t talk about God. Don’t get too deep. Don’t write about monsters. Don’t get too dramatic, or scary, or emotional, or, or… Make it more marketable. Re-do it and transform it into something that appeals to a wider audience, that is selling better. Homogenize it.”
No.
I create beauty, and I create truth, and I create art. And that will not change, now or ever. My art holds me hostage to its truth. I can’t change it. It speaks for itself. When I sit down to write, there is a spiritual connection between God and the work and me in the middle, and something meaningful is manifested.
I feel every emotion that I describe. I suffer through every situation that my characters experience. I have to be in the midst of it. In order for my characters to hurt I have to hurt; if they cry I cry; if they suffer so do I. It is an emotionally draining and difficult experience to feel all of it, and to birth something into existence.
So why do it?
Because I’m trying to give my readers something beautiful, something meaningful. With every book I begin by praying that God would help me to create something as close to a masterpiece as I am capable of. In fact, I begin each day’s session of writing with that prayer.
Of course, not everyone who reads my work will agree about the masterpiece part. And the stories will not mean much to some people. But if one person reads something I have written, and is touched in some way, if it somehow speaks to them, I am satisfied.
I give my heart and soul to my art; I give it everything I am. It tears my heart out. It is a struggle to bring to fruition.
That’s my choice. I offer my works to the world and expose them to critique, for better or worse. And, as I wrote in the preface of A Truly Successful Life, my books are my bouquet to you.
No matter who originally said it, it’s true. Writing, especially creative writing, is like wrestling with demons in the dark. And if it is art, if it is true, it hurts. It tears your heart out.
What is art?
It is the song of your heart. It is self-expression. It is beauty; it speaks truth in the moment it is experienced. It is the creativity of the human spirit, outwardly expressed and shared with the world.
Every artist has to decide whether to be true to his art or sell out. “Cut this out, make these changes to make it more palatable for the masses. Don’t talk about God. Don’t get too deep. Don’t write about monsters. Don’t get too dramatic, or scary, or emotional, or, or… Make it more marketable. Re-do it and transform it into something that appeals to a wider audience, that is selling better. Homogenize it.”
No.
I create beauty, and I create truth, and I create art. And that will not change, now or ever. My art holds me hostage to its truth. I can’t change it. It speaks for itself. When I sit down to write, there is a spiritual connection between God and the work and me in the middle, and something meaningful is manifested.
I feel every emotion that I describe. I suffer through every situation that my characters experience. I have to be in the midst of it. In order for my characters to hurt I have to hurt; if they cry I cry; if they suffer so do I. It is an emotionally draining and difficult experience to feel all of it, and to birth something into existence.
So why do it?
Because I’m trying to give my readers something beautiful, something meaningful. With every book I begin by praying that God would help me to create something as close to a masterpiece as I am capable of. In fact, I begin each day’s session of writing with that prayer.
Of course, not everyone who reads my work will agree about the masterpiece part. And the stories will not mean much to some people. But if one person reads something I have written, and is touched in some way, if it somehow speaks to them, I am satisfied.
I give my heart and soul to my art; I give it everything I am. It tears my heart out. It is a struggle to bring to fruition.
That’s my choice. I offer my works to the world and expose them to critique, for better or worse. And, as I wrote in the preface of A Truly Successful Life, my books are my bouquet to you.