Friday, July 29, 2011

Only You Can Write It

How does this artwork make you feel?












Created by design team Linda and John Meyers for the VIA advertising agency in Portland, Maine, who recently moved into an ancient public library. (Photo: Wary Meyers) (http://www.warymeyers.com)
I found it here.

For me it's like a Rorschach test for my mood toward reading/writing goals. If I'm overwhelmed by "assigned" reading and floundering in my own edits, it feels like an avalanche about to crush me. 

But if I'm reading a bunch of amazing books, staying on top of my own writing goals, and excited for some not-yet-released, much-buzzed-about books, it's an oasis in the desert!


That's the fantastic thing about art. It reaches you where you are.

That's what fiction does, too.


You see an alien. I see an angel.

That's why every writer matters, because no two people get exactly the same impression from any given object, idea, or situation. Only you can write the book you're writing. Only you will extrapolate those themes from that relationship. A hundred people could write about the same rainstorm, and we'd have a hundred completely different human experiences that make us feel a thousand different combinations of emotion.

And that's just beautiful.

7 comments:

  1. I see a little piglet with his nose in the air standing in the mud by a reflecting pool, but you have to turn the picture horizontally to see it. (I don't, but you do, *snicker*). :)

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  2. LOL! I see it! Never would've seen it if you hadn't mentioned that, though. Case in point!

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  3. This is something I have a hard time remembering sometimes. I always think someone else could write my book so much better than I can. Maybe I'll get over it some day ;p

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  4. I felt encouraged, like something creative was bursting forth.

    There's been a few encouraging posts going around today, nice energy that I need!

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  5. I feel terrible, but the first thing I thought of was: "How is it defying gravity." But currently, it looks more like an avalanche to me, which probably says something (very loudly) about my current writing life. :)

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  6. I see two crows sitting back to back. I think they might be sister crows having a fight--probably over brownies.

    And the books crashing through the drywall make me very uncomfortable...I want to scream, "Hey you can't treat books that way! Who is responsible for this mess?"

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  7. ROFL, Angie! That was actually my very first thought when I saw the books flying out of the drywall and thought they were real books. But as art, I love it. I can see the crows, too, now that you mention it. Again, not something I would have seen on my own!

    Tiff, I promise you're the only one who can write the stories in your head. :)

    Sophia, I know, right? I love the pep talks. They really help me.

    Emy, I can definitely relate. I think as writers we're always in a pendulum cycle of too much and too little. Or maybe that's just me. ha ha.

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