One Mouth Open, One Mouth Shut

I don't know what it is about talking about my work, I just don't do it anymore. I joke with other writers about getting me an agent, but they don't get the joke. I don't want one. I want to write. So I do. I am a creator and that has been my objective. I made the hard choice, not the easy one....to chase the craft and not the dollars. There are plenty of best sellers out there that I would use to build a fire. They marketed and sold their work and did the book signings. It was their way, not mine. I realized that I had built up a collection of followers, close to 2000 on a social network site, and it got a little weird for me. Weird is a kind word for it. One day I looked at the page and I committed fan-tracide. I killed the page because it no longer was the place of art and collaboration I wanted it to be. I had written articles for an international fashion mag, had my own column, and in short it seemed to be everything I wanted. Ladies and gentlemen, it was all an illusion.

I vowed never again. I had a taste of the obsession of fame, the requests to do book signings, and even the cyber stalking, and I put an end to it all. That was off of one book of poetry. Sounds pretty strange, doesn't it? I had to go off of the radar to do the work I want to do. It involves people, life and the best, real collaboration. When I was in Daegu, South Korea, a wonderful poetress, name Lena Vanelslander, from Belgium and I began an incredible collaboration. The kind we both hungered for, the kind that is absent of competition and worries about things like ego and money...just to create art.

One of Lena's dreams was to publish. I smiled and wrote to her, that we could make it happen if she just trusted and believed. It seems looking back, that at any point the project could have derailed if an ounce of fear entered the picture. There were starts and stops. I hated the original cover design by the publisher and provided them a picture I snapped in South Korea. There was a bumpy road with our critiques of the editing process back in the United States, but despite all of the struggles, a work was published without two writers ever meeting each other. We just trusted in our art and in each other. That, my friends, is the magic of creation. Nothing beats the feeling.

The best part about this work was the friendship we forged together. An article was recently published in Her Circle about this venture. Really, it was more a a literary adventure. However, the main reason I am writing this post to encourage you in your writing pursuits to not chase the money. Chase your art. Chase what it feels like to touch one life. Try to write about what is close to your heart and don't prostitute your work.

I think the world is beginning to see how much security is an illusion right now. To me, the highest form of security are friends. The greatest value in my life is people. Whenever money becomes the focus, you get what Hollywood is churning out...profit driven entertainment. I don't write for profit, and some of my work has cost me. It's all in the journey.

For whatever reason you write, do it with your whole heart, without an eye on the bottom line, without chasing after fame. Well, even if you are chasing after those things...if you are, write one hell of a story that isn't what the industry pushes out there on us all.

Be the original that everyone copies.