I truly believe every one of us has a gift inside that we can use to enrich our souls and make us happy. Most people consider the 'arts' to be the top of those gifts. You paint, write, play an instrument? You are among the elite! One of those who will find beauty in everything and must always live in a state of constant wonder with the world.
I, for one, do not have such a poetic entrancement with the world around me. Maybe I would if I lived on some wooded isle where sweet fruits grew, deer and rabbit loped through and I was sung to sleep by crickets and the nightengale as I gazed up at a deep blue sky with beautiful clear stars.
Alas, such is not my life. I won't say there's nothing in being an 'artist'. You do tend to see and hear things in a way that might not have struck a chord with others. I adore the feeling of being in the middle of a piece and flying through, almost as if I have no control and some unknown entity is singing the words from my brain to my furiously typing fingers.
However, that is NOT how I usually feel. Artistic projects are a job, something you have to work at even if you have some natural talent. Those in business who rise to the top of their profession are simply those with talent and work ethic/competitive streak/luck/no moral compulsions. Such is the same for art as well.
I may get a wonderful idea but have no clue where to start, no clue of the who/what/when/where which are all very important when telling a story. I have single sentences that were ideas from years ago I don't know what I'll do with.
There's not much magical about writing, not in a way I can explain. See, to most writers, we don't always know everything going on in our own story or head. We THINK we know, but not always. When characters are talking, plot is moving and things are happening, it doesn't feel like work. However, when you seem very alone, staring at a white screen or blank paper, then you realize work is involved.
Sometimes outlines have to be made. Sometimes you need to get index cards and make a wall looking very much like a genius on the verge of some great mathematical or scientific breakthrough (maybe if we could add the letters up, we'd learn some secret of the world). Sometimes you have to stare at a wall for a few hours until the spark comes in. Sometimes you have to take a nap.
At some point though, you will have to write. You will have to pull out your writing instruments and put down words, even if they're bad. ESPECIALLY if they're bad. Sometimes you have to write forty pages of worthlessness to get to one good scene.
To many people, writing that bad stuff is unacceptable, so they wait. They wait for the perfect idea, perfect time. They wait for it all to come together THEN they will write.
I'm sorry, but it very rarely works out that way. In fact, in most cases the perfect time comes right smack dab in the middle of when you were sitting there for three hours writing bad stuff. That perfect idea is waiting to be on page 15, paragraph 3, line four of a 35 page bad idea.
Artists can freeze themselves up waiting to not fail. You MUST fail in the same way you failed several times at walking before you got it right. With very little exception, you failed at everything the first time you tried it. Mostly when you were a child, when you didn't believe that falling down or getting it wrong the first time was failure. You just believed you had to do it again until you could do it right.
That's how writing works. It's not failure if you write a really, really bad scene or if your character comes across flat. It's just the first time you did it and you get to try it again and again until you get it right. Remember in school when you had to do a ROUGH draft before you could correct it? Yeah, that applies to all writing, not just those essays on tigers and President Lincoln.
If I can say anything to new writers or even seasoned 'veterans': Don't be afraid to get it wrong. The path is not always clear and even when it seems to be, unexpected detours happen. Don't be afraid to write the worst story you believe anyone in the history of writing has ever written. I swear to you it's not that bad. How can you fix it until you know what needs to be fixed?
Don't be afraid of perceived failure. I will tell you the true definition of failure. If you don't believe me, feel free to look it up in the dictionary. Failure is 'omission of occurrence or performance; specifically : a failure to perform a duty or expected action.'
In this case, failure only comes when you don't write, don't paint, don't play, don't do whatever it is that makes you feel like you're doing SOMETHING. If you didn't perform your duties at work, you'd be fired. If you don't perform your duties as an artist, you're failing. Nowhere in the definition I gave you does it say you have to perform it perfectly, just that you have to perform.
You have to perform to get better at it as well. It's a bit like exercise. It's hard the first time you do it and you may even feel stupid when it's over, but some part of you has been strengthened. Each time you do it, you get better. Maybe you'll make some of the same mistakes over and over, but they can be fixed the next time. If you want to become a strong artist, keep performing.
I have so many other reasons I believe people don't follow their dreams, but I truly feel this is the most common. Keep going. Keep being artistic. Allow yourself mistakes but don't let them stop you. I promise you'll get better, stronger and more secure about yourself as an artist as long as you keep showing up and keep trying.
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