Rip It Up, Bravely

It's not been the best of weeks, to be frank.  Among other crappy things, I had to cut two (yes two!) chapters from my manuscript and am having one of those "aargh" moments with where I'm going.  Oh well.  Up I stand again and brush myself down.  Something that helped this week was hearing talented friends (and talented others) read at the Thursday Theater of Words and Music in Salem, MA.  What a great evening.  Also, because of a cool, creative idea of Laurette's (who co-runs the Thursday Theater) and a resultant recommendation by yours truly, a quote from Charles Baxter's "Losers" was read aloud that night.  I do love his essay and was prompted to look back at it.  Here's a bit that's helped me:

"I myself have destroyed many pages with great bravery.  I am never braver than when I am throwing away first, second, third and fourth drafts.  My waste basket and I deserve a medal.  I am tempted to say that the artist who does not go through a period of desolation, of brave destruction with its markers of failure and deflation and despair somehow becomes glib.  We do not talk much about glibness anymore -- the word itself sounds antique -- but it is one of the traditional markers of the hack.  If something is really easy to say, then it's probably not worth saying."

From "Losers" by Charles Baxter, Michigan Quarterly Review, Winter '07

Another thing that helped was going to the ICA for the Shepard Fairey exhibition*.  It was stunning, inspiring, rebellious, provocative.  Go see, if you can!

Frankly, me blogging at 10.45 on a Saturday night is not a good sign.  But hey, I've got my Shepard Fairey stickers and Charles Baxter piece.  What more could a woman want?  (Chocolate and Baileys, that's what).

For an article about Shepard Fairey's street art, click here.

Comments

[S. Thomas Summers (Scott)]

I hope you found your chocolate and Baileys. I also hope to return.

[Sue]

Thanks! I did. So glad you stopped by. I look forward to reading your blog, too.

[S. Thomas Summers (Scott)]

Your always welcome on my blog. Here's to...words.

[S. Thomas Summers (Scott)]

Used an incorrect blog address. It's corrected now. Sorry.

http://www.sthomassummers.webs.com/blogthelintinmypocket.htm

[Amy]

Oh, Sue! Those weeks are hard to live through. Am currently cutting chapters left and right myself, so the Baxter quote is much appreciated. (Though I have to beware of taking the idea too far: I'm not sure it's good for the soul to assume that everything that comes easily ought to be cut. Sometimes the stuff that just pours out of you is the stuff that needs to stay.)

[Sue]

Thanks so much, Amy, for your kind and thoughtful words! Yes, you make a most important point - sometimes we've somehow done the hard work unconsciously, and what rolls out of us feels easy and free. That's often when we're at our most authentic, I believe. For me, this comes with a feeling - a knowing, even.