Despite trying to attend college for visual arts, I have always felt that my best media has been the written word (despite what this blog might indicate otherwise). I’ve always found it a lot easier to mold a series of words into a message of deeper meaning than making paint, clay, steel, or ink bend to my will.
As the product of a function which factors in the massive amount of “heady” podcasts and audiobooks that I am reading, I feel the deep pull to reconnect with my art. I’m constantly speaking to myself in my head, describing in literary detail my impressions of the world around me, telling myself stories.
A lack of maturity was my first impediment to my writing, not forcing myself to sit and write regularly, and taking a scholarly approach to it. But switching so drastically from art to business stoked the fire of my perfectionism, and I grew paralyzed with fear that the first words I put to paper would not be perfect. How could I reconcile my art side with my business side?
Again, with this “Age of Saturn” stuff, where the path is being made clear. I have come to appreciate and love the art of language and literature, but I certainly didn’t have the maturity or the drive to make anything of it.
The best way to get good at a craft is practice – over and over. In a reflection of filling out 2009’s end-of-the-year survey, I came to realize that I was heartened that I had kept some track of my year, but disappointed that I didn’t keep quite the track that I wanted to. So, my exercise through the year is to not only recount the year, but to keep practicing the craft. Perhaps some entries will become the base of bigger essays. Perhaps not. At any rate, it’s important to me to keep the plasticity of my artists brain in good shape.
I’m curious to compare 2010’s end-of-the-year survey with 2009’s and see what happens from a literary standpoint.
Title Inspiration: Song for Myla Goldberg, the Decemberists
The Blog of JulZ 