The Many Analogies of Writing
The page can represent so many things. It can be your worst enemy or your best friend. Even just a few words, strategically placed, can complete a page. A few words can also leave us struggling for more.
There have been so many analogies for writing lately, or more specifically, for the blank page. We can liken it to the artist's canvas, the empty pot on the stove, the empty garden plot, or simply an empty page. Regardless of what analogy we use, we need to find a way to fill it. We want our pot to feed an army and our garden to bloom spectacularly.
Our methods for doing this will vary from person to person. We can splash paint on a canvas and call it abstract. Or, we can painstakingly and lovingly apply each brush stroke of paint until the proper image appears. Neither method is wrong. Both can yield "art." Some of us even have a flair for creating art when we cook. How many times have you heard that something looks too pretty to eat?
The page takes many forms and so does art. As a writer, we want to get something out of our art. I don't know of many people who write and hate it. They may not always like their end result, but it is simply not possible to write and not like writing. At the same time, as artists, we want people to get something from our craft as well.
Not many of us will be responsible for an earth-shattering epiphany in another. Many of us will probably not even have a lasting affect on another. Yet, if one person remembers something you wrote. It can all be worth it. I have two examples of this today. A couple of weeks back, an old friend of mine wanted to include one of my poems in his ezine. I gave him permission to do so. I mentioned this to another friend of mine and he told me he remembered the poem.
The second instance involved my Dad. He asked me if he might share a short-story I wrote with a neighbor. Okay, sure, he's my father. But, still, he wanted to share it with someone else. These things make writing worth while. Even if they are few and far between, they are our rewards. We can't reap those rewards unless we write.
Get to it!
There have been so many analogies for writing lately, or more specifically, for the blank page. We can liken it to the artist's canvas, the empty pot on the stove, the empty garden plot, or simply an empty page. Regardless of what analogy we use, we need to find a way to fill it. We want our pot to feed an army and our garden to bloom spectacularly.
Our methods for doing this will vary from person to person. We can splash paint on a canvas and call it abstract. Or, we can painstakingly and lovingly apply each brush stroke of paint until the proper image appears. Neither method is wrong. Both can yield "art." Some of us even have a flair for creating art when we cook. How many times have you heard that something looks too pretty to eat?
The page takes many forms and so does art. As a writer, we want to get something out of our art. I don't know of many people who write and hate it. They may not always like their end result, but it is simply not possible to write and not like writing. At the same time, as artists, we want people to get something from our craft as well.
Not many of us will be responsible for an earth-shattering epiphany in another. Many of us will probably not even have a lasting affect on another. Yet, if one person remembers something you wrote. It can all be worth it. I have two examples of this today. A couple of weeks back, an old friend of mine wanted to include one of my poems in his ezine. I gave him permission to do so. I mentioned this to another friend of mine and he told me he remembered the poem.
The second instance involved my Dad. He asked me if he might share a short-story I wrote with a neighbor. Okay, sure, he's my father. But, still, he wanted to share it with someone else. These things make writing worth while. Even if they are few and far between, they are our rewards. We can't reap those rewards unless we write.
Get to it!
posted by Vickie at 9:22 PM
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