Quotes on writing and art
I’ve finished Art & Fear, that book about artmaking I talked about in a previous post. I’ve returned it to its owner, but not before writing down a few lines that really resonated with me. If you’re a writer or any kind of artist, these might be interesting to you too:
“For years I set aside daytimes for artmaking and evenings for writing; at some point I reversed that schedule, and months passed before I realized my writing had dried up – not for lack of ideas, but because it turns out I process words better at midnight than midday.”
“Try, if you can, to reoccupy your own aesthetic space of a few years back, or even a few months. There is no way. You can only plunge ahead, even when that carries with it the bittersweet realization that you have already done your very best work.”
“Working within the self-imposed discipline of a particular form eases the prospect of having to reinvent yourself with each new piece.”
“New work is supposed to replace old work. If it does so by making the old work inadequate, insufficient and incomplete – well, that’s life. (Frank Lloyd Wright advised young architects to plant ivy all around their early buildings, suggesting that in time it would grow to cover their ‘youthful indiscretions.’)”
“Only the maker has a chance of knowing how important small conventions and rituals are in the practice of staying at work.”
“The hardest part of artmaking is living your life in such a way that your work gets done – over and over.”
“Only in these moments when we are truly working on our own work do we recover the fundamental connection we share with all makers of art. The rest may be necessary, but it’s not art. Your job is to draw a line from your life to your art that is straight and clear.”
The last three, in particular, were my favourites. I should print them out and read them next time I’m considering taking another fiction workshop instead of writing new stories!
In fiction-writing news, I’ve been sticking diligently to a schedule of writing one hour per day, at least. I’m so bad at that when it comes to fiction writing. I’m on top of things with my freelancing, but forget about it when it comes to my own writing! I’ve known a lot of people who pursue their hobby/interest professionally, then find the focus shifts sharply away from their personal practice. It seems I’m no different.
The other day I read this great blog post on the CBC’s website: 
This week’s been weird for me, writing-wise. Earlier in the week, I printed out a short story of mine to review it. I’d only been doing so on the computer so far, but there’s something more productive-feeling about making notes on a sheet of paper. A different mental connection, maybe.