Writing Quote Wednesday: Making Art
“In order to make art, we must be willing to labor.”
—Julia Cameron, Finding Water, p. 46
Creating stories is hard work. Sometimes I feel like an elephant holding a paintbrush in front of a crowd (only in the elephant’s case, there is always a cheering crowd). But it’s hard work, writing, that is. Sometimes I look at the page and all I see is nonsense. Sometimes I look a story and I have no idea how to fix it. It isn’t supposed to be easy. But in order to be pleased with more than just awkward scribbling, we have to be willing to keep working, even when it’s hard.
2 Comments
Alayne Kay Christian
You’ve got me thinking about playing a soundtrack of people cheering when I write 🙂 I guess we have to be our own cheerleaders, along with our critique partners, writing community friends and so on. “No idea how to fix it” is the one that gets me – especially when I know I am so close to creating the story I want. Fortunately, life taught me patience and perseverance a long time ago. Now, if only I could handle a paintbrush like an elephant. Author/illustrator – oh yeah!
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
I was actually thinking the same thing about critique group friends last night following a thread on Twitter. That’s what I think of my critique partners–my own personal cheerleading squad. I may have to write a post about that… 🙂