Episode 1.5. In Which You Contemplate Your Contributions.  

  There are amazing works of Art in the world; sculpture, paintings, huge mobiles, gardens, buildings...the list is exhaustingly endless. Viewing them is a privilege wherever you may find them. Viewing them in solitude can be enormously reflective; with friends, a source of endless conversation.

It can, however, make you feel like shit.

If you are a person of artistic wanderings, but are yet to actually pin down that thing...that thing that keeps you awake at night, that buzzes around your ear during the day when you are trying to do 'real stuff' like the bank balance, laundry, dishes, getting dinner ready....you spiral into the maelstrom of 'why aren't I that good?!?!?!"

Well...because you're not that person. And copying them just isn't going to work.

 It takes time. But it is your own voice that needs to be heard. Not your rendition of someone you admire, because not only is that cheating, folks will see the sham. Then comes the hard part.

You have to be you. Your thoughts. Your paint brush strokes. Your fingers muddy with clay. You hovering over your glass kiln in the middle of the night. Your words that are desperately trying to be original, and heard.

So. Volume is not it, in size or sound level. "Trending" is booted out the door. Don't let it hit you on your way out. Don't be flip, it just doesn't work anyway. If your heart isn't in it, ummmm....nope.

It is sitting with yourself when you are so full of that stuff that keeps you awake at night, brushing it, molding it, putting pencil to paper or fingers to a keyboard, and feeling it carry you forward like a sled in the snow, that you are being true. Most times it works. And when it does, it will carry others along with you, in your story, and they won't even notice they've left home.

OnceUponA