Writing and Art. Art and Writing. (July 2011)
Note from the Author: The article you are about to read was originally posted on July 27th, 2011 to my Facebook Notes page. It was the first blog entry I ever made. The reason behind me scrounging it up a year later is for reference in the next post...
My scale is broken. Just thought you’d like to know. You probably don’t care, but I’m very surprised this happened to me, nonetheless. No, a “Biggest Loser” contestant didn’t burst through my apartment wall like the Kool-Aid Man (OH YEAH!!) and jump on it a couple of times to smash it, because that isn’t the kind of scale I’m talking about (of course, I wouldn’t blame them if one happened to do just that after what they have to go through). Neither did my inner Lady Justice fall down the courthouse steps when she went home for the day. Although, if she cut out little eyeholes in that silly blindfold maybe she wouldn’t trip as much. In any case, her balancing scales are what I had in mind for this little analogy.
So, do you want to know how I could tell my scale is broken? It’s because it’s too perfect. The weight on one side is perfectly, impeccably equal to the other. They’re not moving, tilting or imbalanced in any way. The weight on one side is just as important as the other, just as the one side is not better than the other. Instead, they complement each other.
Writing and Art. Art and Writing.
They really do go hand in hand, don’t they? Because if you think about it kids, they both, simultaneously, tell stories and paint pictures in their own right. Yes, with writing, the picture is in your mind—like Lady Justice tumbling down some steps or the Kool-Aid Man bursting through my living room wall. Yet, we all see the same picture differently. Just as a drawing or a painting can invoke in us a story—even if it’s the story of the artist themselves and how they came up with the idea—there is still a story. And honestly, is that not what drives our culture—to see differently even if we are looking at the same thing? It’s what makes us all so awesome together. It’s what makes us all so human.
And that’s what surprises me so much. I never thought I would feel the same way I do about art as I do about writing. The thing you must understand is that for a lot people in the nation today, Literature and Art both conjure up images of stuffy scholarly types, swirling aged brandy with smoking jackets and monocles, sitting in leather back chairs by a roaring fire and being offended for no reason at all.
Except, that would be wrong, wouldn’t it?
That isn’t what it’s about anymore. Ask the senior in high school waiting for the bus which mobile device he uses to read his favorite author, or which graphic piece in her ‘zombie series’ the art student is going to be posting to Deviantart.com in the coming week. This is our changing culture, maturing, adapting, and evolving in the 21st century.
I recently read an article about the top rejection letters from a slew of now infamous authors. In it, the article related how this person was rejected X-amount of times and this other person was told by a publisher they didn’t know how to use the English language. All I could help but wonder was what they will be saying 50 years from now? “This person only got two ‘likes’ on their Facebook page in three months” “This person only got a few hits on their website after five straight years of dogged self-promotion.” We are always looking into the past and comparing ourselves to our heroes, but what we don’t do enough of is look into the future and make ourselves our own hero.
Writing and Art. Art and Writing.
So far, the only modicum of Art that I’ve unleashed is that multi-tentacled guy in the upper left hand corner of your screen. Well, I’ve spewed two stories on to smashwords.com now (and shamelessly promoted them here), so I guess to keep those scales balanced and in precise alignment the way I feel they are within me, I suppose it’s time to share with you what else I’ve been working on. This one is called “L.A. Awakening”. Hope you like it.
And remember kids, there’s balance in all things, so you have to ask yourself, “what’s in my scales?”
Writing and Art? Or, Art and Writing?
My scale is broken. Just thought you’d like to know. You probably don’t care, but I’m very surprised this happened to me, nonetheless. No, a “Biggest Loser” contestant didn’t burst through my apartment wall like the Kool-Aid Man (OH YEAH!!) and jump on it a couple of times to smash it, because that isn’t the kind of scale I’m talking about (of course, I wouldn’t blame them if one happened to do just that after what they have to go through). Neither did my inner Lady Justice fall down the courthouse steps when she went home for the day. Although, if she cut out little eyeholes in that silly blindfold maybe she wouldn’t trip as much. In any case, her balancing scales are what I had in mind for this little analogy.
So, do you want to know how I could tell my scale is broken? It’s because it’s too perfect. The weight on one side is perfectly, impeccably equal to the other. They’re not moving, tilting or imbalanced in any way. The weight on one side is just as important as the other, just as the one side is not better than the other. Instead, they complement each other.
Writing and Art. Art and Writing.
They really do go hand in hand, don’t they? Because if you think about it kids, they both, simultaneously, tell stories and paint pictures in their own right. Yes, with writing, the picture is in your mind—like Lady Justice tumbling down some steps or the Kool-Aid Man bursting through my living room wall. Yet, we all see the same picture differently. Just as a drawing or a painting can invoke in us a story—even if it’s the story of the artist themselves and how they came up with the idea—there is still a story. And honestly, is that not what drives our culture—to see differently even if we are looking at the same thing? It’s what makes us all so awesome together. It’s what makes us all so human.
And that’s what surprises me so much. I never thought I would feel the same way I do about art as I do about writing. The thing you must understand is that for a lot people in the nation today, Literature and Art both conjure up images of stuffy scholarly types, swirling aged brandy with smoking jackets and monocles, sitting in leather back chairs by a roaring fire and being offended for no reason at all.
Except, that would be wrong, wouldn’t it?
That isn’t what it’s about anymore. Ask the senior in high school waiting for the bus which mobile device he uses to read his favorite author, or which graphic piece in her ‘zombie series’ the art student is going to be posting to Deviantart.com in the coming week. This is our changing culture, maturing, adapting, and evolving in the 21st century.
I recently read an article about the top rejection letters from a slew of now infamous authors. In it, the article related how this person was rejected X-amount of times and this other person was told by a publisher they didn’t know how to use the English language. All I could help but wonder was what they will be saying 50 years from now? “This person only got two ‘likes’ on their Facebook page in three months” “This person only got a few hits on their website after five straight years of dogged self-promotion.” We are always looking into the past and comparing ourselves to our heroes, but what we don’t do enough of is look into the future and make ourselves our own hero.
Writing and Art. Art and Writing.
So far, the only modicum of Art that I’ve unleashed is that multi-tentacled guy in the upper left hand corner of your screen. Well, I’ve spewed two stories on to smashwords.com now (and shamelessly promoted them here), so I guess to keep those scales balanced and in precise alignment the way I feel they are within me, I suppose it’s time to share with you what else I’ve been working on. This one is called “L.A. Awakening”. Hope you like it.
And remember kids, there’s balance in all things, so you have to ask yourself, “what’s in my scales?”
Writing and Art? Or, Art and Writing?
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