I am not an artist.
May. 23rd, 2009 09:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jeriendhalElizabeth Bear on her craft.
I think this helped me realize something about what I do. I am not an artist, in that I take particular care to hone my skills to produce a specific result. I am most certainly not a Capital A Artist, out to poke at the status quo, challenge assumptions, point out the Emperor's lack of clothes and so forth.
I'm a writer, a storyteller. I write what I write because that's what I feel like writing. I'm not out to discomfort anyone or make them look at the world differently. Occasionally that's happened, but the result was entirely accidental. I'm primarily an entertainer. Mostly I'm out to entertain myself, and if a few others happen to enjoy my stuff, that's just terrific.
I suppose that's one reason I'm not twisting myself into knots to try to get a book commercially published. It'd be nice, but it's hardly necessary for my self-validation.
And that's okay.
I think this helped me realize something about what I do. I am not an artist, in that I take particular care to hone my skills to produce a specific result. I am most certainly not a Capital A Artist, out to poke at the status quo, challenge assumptions, point out the Emperor's lack of clothes and so forth.
I'm a writer, a storyteller. I write what I write because that's what I feel like writing. I'm not out to discomfort anyone or make them look at the world differently. Occasionally that's happened, but the result was entirely accidental. I'm primarily an entertainer. Mostly I'm out to entertain myself, and if a few others happen to enjoy my stuff, that's just terrific.
I suppose that's one reason I'm not twisting myself into knots to try to get a book commercially published. It'd be nice, but it's hardly necessary for my self-validation.
And that's okay.
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no subject
Date: 2009-05-23 08:28 pm (UTC)Because we gotta - if we make good at it great, if not we still have to tell the stories or we go mad because the characters in our heads need to be let out for exercise or the pounding on the door becomes unbearable.