I am a daughter, a sister, a teacher, a reader, a writer, and above all, a dreamer. I started this blog as a requirement for a creative writing class, and we'll see whether I keep it going at the end of the year.
I really like this. Though I am not sure I believe it, but then that might just be confirming it. Either way it leaves me trapped in a cycle that I am ok with.
Ditto on Jared's comment. It reminds me of the time a lady I worked with was telling me about how Henry Ripplinger (the artist, and now author, who owns Henry's restaurants in Regina) woke up one day and decided to write books and he found himself just writing and writing and couldn't believe how easy it was and how good he was at writing. This is obviously hearsay and thus inadmissible in a court of law, but it makes me want to read his book(s) to see what has become of his alleged wild self-confidence.
Okay, this isn't polite, because essentially I am about to sandbag Henry (big time), but he is exactly the non-artist this post is referring to. Yes, his paintings are lovely. But no, the man does not have a "way with words." Certainly he thinks he is terrific, he will tell you all about how awesome his books are, but all it takes is a rudimentary knowledge of sentence structure and grammar and you can see that his writing is not as good as his paintings. Take this for whatever you think my opinion is worth, but, based on the back of the books alone, I would never ever read a single page of his books. The blurb (written by him) has two "sentences," one is a run on, and the other is a fragment. And it is so full of hot air, its just intolerable. I guess the moral of the story is, it's okay to judge a book by the back cover. Real artists (and authors) take the time to edit, and also tend to show a little humility.
I really like this. Though I am not sure I believe it, but then that might just be confirming it. Either way it leaves me trapped in a cycle that I am ok with.
ReplyDeleteDitto on Jared's comment. It reminds me of the time a lady I worked with was telling me about how Henry Ripplinger (the artist, and now author, who owns Henry's restaurants in Regina) woke up one day and decided to write books and he found himself just writing and writing and couldn't believe how easy it was and how good he was at writing. This is obviously hearsay and thus inadmissible in a court of law, but it makes me want to read his book(s) to see what has become of his alleged wild self-confidence.
ReplyDeleteOkay, this isn't polite, because essentially I am about to sandbag Henry (big time), but he is exactly the non-artist this post is referring to. Yes, his paintings are lovely. But no, the man does not have a "way with words." Certainly he thinks he is terrific, he will tell you all about how awesome his books are, but all it takes is a rudimentary knowledge of sentence structure and grammar and you can see that his writing is not as good as his paintings.
ReplyDeleteTake this for whatever you think my opinion is worth, but, based on the back of the books alone, I would never ever read a single page of his books. The blurb (written by him) has two "sentences," one is a run on, and the other is a fragment. And it is so full of hot air, its just intolerable.
I guess the moral of the story is, it's okay to judge a book by the back cover. Real artists (and authors) take the time to edit, and also tend to show a little humility.