“I’ll never be like my idols
But I can be someone I could enjoy reading.”— Shamelessly Stolen from a post of Sarah’s on her blog, Fresh Hell.
It’s very rare for me when it goes much beyond that. But sometimes it does.
Now and then — very occasionally — I’ll do something that I honestly think is in one or two ways out of a dozen ways — in one or two ways as good or even sometimes better than anything else I’ve come across in life. I might be wrong then. I might be right then. But right or wrong, I myself cannot honestly hold any other opinion than the one I do. Happens very rarely, but it happens.
For instance, I would submit to an objective judge my novella, “A Death in the Spring”, to be measured in one or two ways against any work of literature I’ve come across for accuracy of insight into love and evil. The judge might rule one way or another. The judge might surprise me or not. But I would be lying to myself to think the novella didn’t measure up in one or two ways.
Do you ever feel that way about anything — anything — you do?
That’s how I honestly feel sometimes about my four arts. Blogging. Poetry. Painting. Wanking.
Do you ever feel that way?
I think everyone does at least once.
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I’m been thinking about what you said for a little while now. I can’t be truly sure about it but my hunch is there’s a lot of people who never feel anything they do measures up to the standards of the people they admire. Just a hunch, though. You could be right.
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I have to agree. I think we all do
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I don’t know that I have a idol when it comes to writing. Certarinly there are writers whose skills I deeply admire. Gerard Manly Hopkins’ poems stir my soul. So do the words that have been penned by John O’Donohue.
I know I have written good stuff. It happens when my Muse takes over. I sit and write not knowing what the next words, let alone the next sentence will be. Such a surreal experience. It leaves me in awe. wondering….
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“It leaves me in awe. wondering….” So well put! It is exactly the same for me.
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I too will sometimes finish a work and wonder who made it 😀
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Sometimes I even get that feeling while still in the process of writing or painting. I suppose it’s the subconscious mind that’s actually dong the work. That would be my guess, at least.
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You have to have confidence to put your work out there. Sometimes it’s a quiet confidence where you allow your work to speak for you.
I’ve never shied away from displaying what I can do. At the same time I know I have a lot to learn. If you’re good at something identify the weakness and improve. Make it your goal to be the best all around.
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Thanks, Bryan. I substantially agree with you. The only difference might be that I have found it works better for me to focus on building up my strengths than to pay much more attention to correcting my flaws than I absolutely must.
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