I apologize. Between being busy and having computer troubles, I’ve been among the missing. Both the busy-ness and the estrangenesss are likely to continue for a week or so, but I’ll try to be better about the blogging.
In the meantime …
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The thing I’m most busy with right now is an assignment from Backwoods Home. Not writing, but art. I’ve been doing small article illustrations for them for a few months. I knew that someday — probably a few years down the road — they’d ask me to try doing a cover, a much bigger deal.
Don Childers, who’s been their artist since the ‘zine started in 1989, is still the main guy for covers, so I figured I had lots of time to practice painting meadows and cabins and cows.
Then they gave me the assignment. Very suddenly. And guess the topic.
The end of the world.
Yep. End of the world. And not a cow in sight.
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Still, I’m grateful for the opportunity. And this being the week to stress gratitude, we can all be extremely grateful that we are not this woman and have had no dealings with her.
We can be grateful that this woman hasn’t been arrested. Yet. (Though we can be sure the local cops are trying to find some crime in her usurpation of their Authoritah.)
We can be grateful that the mainstream media is sometimes as amusing as The Onion.
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But seriously. About gratitude. On the road to personal secession and becoming becoming our most interesting selves, we witness so much pain and sometimes feel so much hopeless rage that it’s hard to remember that one part of being free is to be damn glad of what we’ve got (even if it’s only clear vision and principles) and of who we’re becoming.
I mean, really, what is the point of our hard-won individual freedom if all we do with it is struggle, fret, and bitch? So PT sends a pair of timely links that make good reading this week: A grateful heart is good for the soul, and here’s how to grow a grinch-heart to proper size.
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Finally, I’ve been saving up these links intending to write a blog on why failure can be a great and welcome thing. But since I’m slow getting around to that, here they are:
J.K. Rowling’s 2008 Harvard commencement address on the fringe benefits of failure and the value of imagination. It’s marvelous.
Which means, of course, that it didn’t have enough gravitas for some.
Thanks, great links. We have so much to be thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving.
Your posts are always worth waiting for, so take your time!
Congrats on the art gig. From limited observation it appears that your heart is there and at times you almost feel “constrained” by this writing business. After being in and around the subject matter for years you’re well prepared for that particular cover. Good luck.
Thank you, Water Lily, EN, and Cindy (and welcome to the comments, Cindy).
EN, you’re a good observer. I hope my writing is never marred by that sense of constraint. But its true that I have a love-hate relationship with everything that involves “brainwork” and I occasionally think fondly of pizza delivery. But after a couple weeks of pizza delivery, I’m sure I’d be thrilled to be a writer again. My view of freedom writing has also changed over the years and I fear to disappoint the folks who expect constant monkeywrenching tips and fiery rants, so sometimes I feel the pressure of people’s perceptions (or what I imagine their perceptions to be).
Really, I love both writing and art and feel privileged to be able to do either of them. Since art was a skill I lost for decades and am only gradually coming back to, there’s an excitement to art right now.
Also, nobody ever sends a letter to a magazine denouncing the illustrator as an idiot. That’s nice. And quite a change. 🙂
J.K.Rowling is a wonder. Not because she’s entertaining, or imaginative, or was able to rise above failure——but because she has learned from her own history. (I never realized that’s what made her tick so well.) So many of us never learn, and therefore are doomed to repeat ourselves as history has done. But she has taken a lesson from every step of her life, and made of it a textbook for the rest of us. True wisdom spouts from her mouth, not just platitudes. Would that we all learned so smartly; the world might become a better place, faster.
“I feel the pressure of people’s perceptions”
I’ve been a reader of yours for many years, although, you keep moving so there are “gaps” in our relationship. However, there are more than a few blogs that were an every day read for me. Now it’s only occasionally. They’ve remained rock ribbed solid on their views, which means after a few years the reader has heard it all. No change is boring. Not to mention we all change, mostly for the better. If we stay the same we’re getting behind. You mentioned being a “cypher”. That’s me. I’ve never had an original idea in my life… but knowing who does is good enough. I doubt that your regular readers expect you to stay the same. That would show a decided lack of creativity. Best of luck on your art.
If reality, perception and beliefs never changed, we’d be living in caves on a flat earth. If freedom was a completely defined one-size-fits-all matter, then it really wouldn’t constitute freedom.
I hope we’ll get to see your cover art!
“If freedom was a completely defined one-size-fits-all matter, then it really wouldn’t constitute freedom.”
Yep!
Yup, lots of truth there. And you, Karen and EN, are both as kind as you are sharp.
As to cover art … if you subscribe to the print version of BHM you’ll see it in full (and I hope glorious) color early next year. If you don’t subscribe to BHM, a smaller version of every cover goes online not long after the issue comes out.
I’ve always assumed that arrogance was one of the classes required at Harvard, so the naysayers commenting on Rowling prove they passed that class with flying colors……I had to chuckle a bit also, because they’re probably some of the ones who will discover just how correct she is, at some point in their lives…..Her outlooks are a bit different than mine, but her messages are worth some thought……
Wow, how cool is getting your art on the BHM cover, congratulations on that!!!!! The uniqueness of BHM’s covers are one of the things that makes BHM so great, so real…..
Sometimes thinking gets in the way of the flow of creating, you should trust your abilities to spontaneously pop out brilliance 🙂
Happy Thanksgiving to all who “live” here, I hope your day is warm and happy (and as peaceful as possible LOL)…….
The Rowling speech is wonderful — and it hits very, very close to home in so many ways. Absolutely made my day! (month? year?) — thanks Claire.
It’s so much better than the most recent 2011 speech (http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2011/05/text-of-ellen-johnson-sirleaf%E2%80%99s-speech/) from our newest Nobel Laureate (http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2011/10/sirleaf-wins-nobel-peace-prize/). Perhaps Rowling’s naysayers would have preferred the usual head of state dog and pony show.
Naturegirl — you’ll see the arrogance shine through a little in this quote from the 2011 speech:
“The person who claims to be the strongest opposition contender is a Harvard graduate. But I want you to know that the incumbent, who is also a Harvard graduate, is determined to win. The relationship between Harvard and Liberia is thus secured and in good hands!”
I’d suggest Isaiah 47 as an antidote to these people, but I doubt it would be well received, if even understood.