Being a writer
An artist
A filmmaker
A songwriter
A sculpter
Anything
Self made is very difficult
You have to combat
Self doubt
Worthiness
You have to defend your creations to others – even if it is silently – in your head, behind shuttered eyes
Justify
the time that they take
To others
And to yourself
Am I good enough?
Is this work good enough?
Is the constant refrain
The soundtrack to our lives
And when we plunge deeply
The dust piles up
And the washing
And the paperwork
And all the ten thousand things that a mean voice
Says
You should be doing instead
Because it is more worthy
That voice in your head
That never shuts up
Climbing over the hurdle of your own self judgement is one of the most difficult things to do
Made worse if some dickhead decides they know better than you what you should be doing with your time
But there comes a point
(Some may call it the f$&@k off point – sorry you’ll have to read the book for that one – it’s only in the book)
Where you realise
We are dying
Blessed with a terminal curse
We begin dying from the time of our birth
And with this finite timeline hanging over our heads
Is opinion, judgement, criticism even worth the paper where you will rarely find it written?
No
Let the haters hate – they are usually people who have done nothing, risked nothing, been nothing and never will be
How sad for them
Let the ego prattle on about “omg people are looking and judging and what if this is a complete failure and I look like a loser?”
Yeah no you’re not – anyone that gets out of their comfort zone and has half a crack at something
They’re winners in my eyes
Stop listening to any of that noise
And instead turn within
Say to your soul
“Thankyou, I’ll accept this dance”
And then
Dance on
Header photo: my youngest son dancing with my niece at a family wedding. Pat is my greatest supporter and immediately bought a book – to be loved and supported by family is one of my greatest blessings.
My husband never comments on the time I spend locked away writing other than to shout down the hall “do you want a coffee?” He listens to my excited chatter when I find something new – and he loves my poetry.
Blessed. I hope the poets and songwriters and artists who follow me are uplifted a little today. We are empty buckets for encouragement – it doesn’t go to our heads – rather encouragement leaks out within seconds – but one nasty comment can sit in the bottom of that damn bucket like a dog turd.
No more
Keep dancing 💃🏼
Definitely keep dancing.
💃🏼😊
Not quite. We work to earn a living. Neither of us worry about praise. It’s embarrassing.
Not the praise – wrong word – just the encouragement now and then – particularly to new creatives.
Two points. Paychecks are our encouragement. More importantly, new creatives only want praise, even when their work could be better. After managing a number of photo staffs, I’m pretty sure I could help make anybody’s work better. I can’t make poetry better, because I barely understand it.
I like this a lot. Read it twice – not easy for a dyslexic. ‘Am I good enough? Is this work good enough? Is the constant refrain’. It’s like the question with no answer. A curse when you’ve done naught wrong; just done your best. Sometimes art – any/all genres – is some incurable disease ~ George
Incurable I think because when you can’t stop doing it no matter what – it’s obviously meant to be. I’ve given up arguing with myself and that made 98%of the noise disappear. It’s only a recent thing – this silence – but my God it’s welcome after years of throwing up my own roadblocks! And it is a Rhetorical question and the worst kind when it’s applied to ourselves – or possibly the best because only we can ultimately answer. So I choose yes yes and yes please. 😂 also, and I’m sorry for all this long writing when a simple reply may have perhaps served better – thanks George. 😊
Don’t worry about the long write. I’m reading my 8th book this year when previous I’d read none. I even wrote a book now on Amazon two years ago but it is – thinking about it – genuinely rubbish. I’ll revisit it one day soon. For me I think getting by on self-made peanuts and industry promises is better than wearing a flash suit and perma-smile talking at people I’ll never want to know. Thanks for that ~ George
Hit the nail on the head – Perma smile people aren’t my sort either – well done on the book 📚
I needed to hear this today…thanks.
😊👌
Facing dilemma between freedom and responsibility makes us stronger as a person.
I think you said it all when you said turn within. Writers, prose and poetry, are such a diverse group with diverse writing styles. People who pause and view a piece of writing either like it or move on. Writers should surround themselves with like minded individuals who are honest but also offer empathy and encouragement. But the first response has to come from the writer in turning out writing that comes from their heart and mind and lived experiences….and being able to sit back and judge objectively that it is the best they can do with that particular piece…and then move on to the story/poem. I like your poetry Kate that is why I follow.
Thankyou Len – it’s always evolving and changing – I fell stuck if I don’t try new things – it can be risky though as some people like a certain thing and lose interest if you do something else – but if I don’t do what inspires me then I will end up not enjoying the process so .. I write how I write I guess. Very blessed to have people like yourself that are broad minded and not locked into one particular style