Maybe you've heard the quote, "Art begins by revealing the artist to you and ends by revealing you to yourself."Turn it around a little and it becomes, "Art begins by revealing you to your audience."
Scary.
And yet, we do it. We long for an audience, in fact. At least I do.
It's hard, isn't it? To make yourself vulnerable like that. To reach into your heart and lay it bare on the page and then put it on display for the world to judge. Why do we do that to ourselves?
I think it's because sometimes something from our heart touches somebody else's heart. And the last part of the quote comes into play. We reveal them to themselves. And that makes all the risk worthwhile.
And I feel like I'm naked in front of a crowd 'cause these words are my diary screaming out loud and I know that you'll use them however you want to. ~Anna Nalick
21 comments:
SO SO true...
We want our writing out there, but only if people will love our people like we do - but they won't. And yet, we feel the need to do it anyway :)
that is both the beauty and the beast in what we do.
It is a scary thing, but a risk well worth taking!
Ah, I love this Angie. Love. I don't know why we do it, I only know I need to be known. Kinda feels a bit narcissistic, when I think about it in these terms, though, lol.
Exactly how I feel - I can't wait to share my work but then I dread it at the same time. Great post :)
I love that song from Anna Nalick, and I always felt it meant exactly what you said! It's hard to reveal yourself through your words-- and yet we long for it desperately!
Yeah, that about sums it up. I think maybe everyone has a inner need to do this--perhaps that's what creativity is all about. Hmm. That's kinda profound.
Oops. Typo. I meant AN inner need....
Maybe that's why I write humor. I'm not giving anything away. Except some anecdotes here and there that may or may not still be legally actionable.
Hmmm... this is so true. We both crave and fear to share our art.
We want to touch people's hearts, but fear being misunderstood.
:-)
It is interesting at times, isn't it? On one hand I try and think of the reader, on the other hand, I don't, b/c the reality of someone reading it...:)
Blessings,
Karen
Yes. This is the reason I have such a hard time showing my work to anyone. It will never become what it should if it doesn't get the air to breathe. Why, oh WHY do I have to feel validated before I can move forward? It's easily the scariest thing about writing. An odd part of the fear for me is that they WILL understand me, and still find me lacking.
Love the part about touching someone else's heart with our own. That is one of the reasons I write: to inpsire, to make someone laugh or think or cry.
It IS scary to put one's self "out there." But there's a lot of satisfaction when someone reads your work and connects. The connections is worth it. Writing IS, after all, a lonely business.
I just found you on Twitter. I like what I see here, so I am now a follower! I grew up in Salt Lake in the Forties and Fifties but now have settled in Virginia with my disabled daughter. I love making connections with other Utahns, especially the writers!!
Ann Best, Long Journey Home
We love it when our characters are vulnerable - maybe they want us to be vulnerable as well and take a chance and put ourselves out there.
Hay Angie,thanks for the visit at my new blog. I think it well be fun. Love you and that GREAT family. Your the best, Dad
Maybe I do it wrong, but I write the stories I do because I *have to* write them. Certainly, it thrills me to no end when folks enjoy my work, but even when a lack of "buzz" gets me down, I just keep plugging along.
I think that's great, Todd. I definitely feel I would keep writing even without an audience. But, yeah. I do want to share what I write also.
I really love this post. I get burned all the time because I don't hide my heart from anyone. I'm very open, in fact, so open that people don't know how to define me.
It's so sad to see this happening because being open isn't the thing in today's society. It's not common to find someone who's willing to dive full in with honesty and you.
Great post!
♥.•*¨ Elizabeth ¨*•.♥
I do want an audience, I admit. But in the end, I just want to tell the right story. Just have it turn out the way I envision it. That's harder than I thought it would be.
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