WHO ARE YOUR GUYS
Finding your creative WHY...the hell am I doing this creative thing?
My dear Continuous Small Treaters,
Wishing you warmth and a calm mental state as we move into the holiday season. Personally, I am working on revisions for my new novel (pray, or whatever, for me), consulting for writing clients on their beautiful projects, and preparing for one of my favorite creative workshops to teach: FINDING YOUR ARTISTIC IDENTITY—WRITING THE ARTIST STATEMENT. I offer this Zoom course from time to time via the amazing Lighthouse Writers Workshop (based in Denver, Colorado) and I always enjoy it because it focuses on one of my favorite things to do with other creative folks: REMIND THEM (and myself) WHY we are spending all this time and energy on writing or whatever creative thing we’re doing.
Basically, it’s a pep talk.
Over the Thanksgiving holiday I prepared an email for this week’s students and, as I wrote it, I realized it might be helpful for others who aren’t even taking the class. Why? Because all human beings are creative creatures and we all feel more fulfilled when we allow some time and space in our lives to consider what gives our lives meaning.
As creative creatures—and I don’t mean just publicly acknowledged artists/authors/whatever, but ANYONE—it’s important to show yourself some compassion and respect your own creative effort. One way to kickstart that process is to consider your own work within the Big Human Project, or (with thanks to author Benjamin Whitmer) The Conversation (see more on that below).
So, today I’m sharing with you the pre-workshop questions I like to send to my students. This is just prep work for the class itself, but it’s an exercise I use a lot to keep myself motivated in my own writing and other creative endeavors (for me, this includes doodling in notebooks, taking photographs, forcing my dog Ralph to wear novelty kerchiefs, writing postcards to old friends, watercolor exercises that nobody sees, trying to perfect a perfect cat-eye eyeliner, coordinating my outfit around a pair of purple boots that go with nothing, attempting to compose witty texts to impress my boyfriend, etc.)
A few years ago I was introduced (via the wonderful British author Sophie Heawood, you should read her newsletter, The Sophist) to the UK artist Babak Ganjei and his text-heavy visual art and posters. There was one in particular that really spoke to me and it clarified something for me.
Here it is:
ART IS THE THING NOBODY ASKED YOU TO DO.
So why are you doing it?
Because it makes life meaningful.
But it’s a grind! It’s hard work, frustrating, under appreciated, misunderstood, seemingly a huge waste of time, never achieving the ideal state we pictured in our minds….
Yet we keep doing it.
WHY?
Well, I can’t answer that for you. We each have our own motivations. But if you’re curious, I offer the questions below as a way to start having a conversation with yourself about how you’re spending your time on this earth and why. I’ve found that offering myself the grace to consider my own flailing efforts within a broader context of human creativity helps me understand why I keep doing it.
These are just questions. YOUR answers may help you begin to see your work in a new way. In the workshop, we will be discussing these answers together and learning from each other.
The other thing I love about leading this workshop is that I LEARN SO MUCH FROM MY STUDENTS. Every time. I have no idea what will happen at this weekend’s workshop, but when I discover something really cool, I will share that with you in a coming Continuous Small Treats newsletter. (Thanks again for subscribing!)
Just in case you forgot, here’s a message from our Founder:
xo Buzzy
Dear Workshoppers,
I am looking forward to meeting you this Sunday, December 3, 10a-12p MT on Zoom! I wanted to offer you the opportunity to prepare for the class by asking you to think about a few questions and concepts over the next several days. This is not required homework, but it might help you get the most out of our brief time together on Saturday morning.
We're going to be talking about artistic identity and why we do what we do (write). In my experience, understanding WHY we spend all this time and angst writing can be valuable in many ways. Knowing why can help you discover other writers and creative people who share the same motivations, whether that's writing for your own pleasure or trying to become a working screenwriter in Hollywood. Knowing why can help you in those low moments when you want to give up (don't!). And knowing why can help you find your place in what my fellow Lighthouse teacher and author Benjamin Whitmer calls The Conversation: the ongoing artistic dialogue carried from the earliest writers to the current day, a conversation between books. And between readers and writers. We all have a place in there somewhere, published or not.
So, here are a few things to think about and, if you have time, write down somewhere so you can access it Saturday during our class:
If you've ever listened to the Marc Maron podcast, WTF, you're probably familiar with this question, one Maron poses to his guests, performers and authors and the occasional President, who show up to be interviewed in forensic detail about their lives, history, and creative influences: "Who are your guys?" With apologies for the gendered construct, you get the idea: who are the authors who immediately come to mind for you when you think about why you started writing? Which authors inspired you to write -- even if your writing is nothing like theirs?
Who are some other creative people, famous or not, who inspire you? Why?
Is there any writing--books, articles, poetry, whatever--that you really dislike? Any particular authors or books you can't stand? Why?
List 10 of your favorite books
Is there a quotation that inspires you?
If, for some magical reason, you knew you had one month before you would never be able to write again, what would you write in that month?
My questions. Your answers. Your writing. Your life.
xo Buzzy