I have to say, I was blown away by the responses to last week’s post, “A Poll.” Thanks to everyone who wrote in … and to everybody else who responded in their mind, if not with their keyboard.

To be brutally candid, there have been times, like when a post would get 10 Comments (or fewer), when I wondered if anyone was “out there” at all. I’d say to myself, “Why am I even doing this? I’m not helping anyone. No one’s even listening.”

Or I would wonder, as I said in the Poll post, “Maybe I’m writing these Wednesday posts to readers who are tuned in for completely different reasons than what I think they are. And I have no idea what those reasons are!”

So it was with great relief and gratification that I took in last week’s Comments. I read ’em all, carefully. It helps me tremendously because it fortifies me in my commitment to keep doing this thing, whatever we might call it.

And I hope it helps you, the reader, to know there is a real COMMUNITY of like-minded and like-aspiring souls. We’re all in the trenches together. I’m in favor of that!

Another way last week’s responses has helped me is this:

I’ve got lots of material that I’ve been holding back. Specifically, two “War of Art”-type books that have been written and proofed but that I’ve been reluctant to even mention, let alone publish, just because I didn’t want to keep putting stuff out BANG BANG BANG. And I was hesitant to believe anyone would even be interested.

I’ll revisit that now. 

But most of all, I just want to say thanks to everyone who took the time (and a lot of the Comments were very brave and self-revealing) and made the effort to articulate exactly where they stood on their own artist’s journey.

What we’re doing, all of us, takes guts. It’s solitary. It’s lonely. The interior challenges we deal with as part of the process are stuff that no school has prepared us for. Some of these challenges don’t even have a name, let alone a prescribed solution. And each of us is facing these dragons alone, without a road map.

So props to all of us! It’s an honor, speaking just for myself, to be in the trenches with such a community of intrepid and high-aiming souls. I’ll keep doing it if you will!