Creative People Will Find a Way
Morning Pages | 2 January 2024
I write because it helps me to connect to the big guy, the Source, whatever you choose to call it. I like Source, but I also use higher power, and sometimes I just go with God. All I know is I'm not in control, and that's just fine by me.
I also read other people's work because it helps me to connect, not only with them and the source of all their power, but because it challenges me, it informs me, it amuses me. It's that connection to other people that I'm really after. I worry sometimes when I'm out in the world doing normal stuff, for example, grocery shopping, that I just don't connect well with people. But I had a fun example yesterday of how that isn't true. I was coming out of the Auchrannie Spa in Brodick after a swim, and there was a family coming in. I held the door open and saw that the dad was wearing the same Rab down jacket that I was wearing, and I commented, in Scots, 'Nice jaicket'. To which he responded, 'Aye, you've got good taste.' And that was it—the exchange was over.
I walked back to my car chuckling to myself and feeling like I'd just had a really nice experience. I didn't overthink it; I just enjoyed the feeling. Imagine if I could be like that all the time: amiable, pleasant, polite, part of society? Well, I can be. I think that's what recovery is all about.
What do you think?
Pages
While Ted Gioia's article was a little depressing, I'm encouraged by how he ended his piece, and it ties in very nicely with Kathryn's piece—writers supporting writers.
As Ted put it:
And—this must be said!—writers should support other writers. Financial support is great, if you can afford it. But even emotional support is valuable. And I especially like it when writers speak out in support of all writers, instead of promoting their own personal or partisan interests.
Amen to that!
Times ARE pretty tough for writers who need crowd support. In the halcyon days of The Blog, writers wrote just to write. And readers read to read. A comment was gold. I remember gobbling up Medium articles in 2015 before they locked it down behind a subscription. Now that the “patron” era is in full swing everywhere--Patreon, Kickstarter, YouTube, Medium, Substack--is it overloaded? Have we reached the pinnacle? When writers threaten that they’ll have to stop producing because they don’t have enough paid subs, is it not unlike being rejected by a publishing house in the old days? Like you, I have a budget that can only stretch so far (with a husband who’s a full time artist during a time when people just don’t have the expendable income), so I also have to be choosy about my subscriptions. Of course I wish I could support everyone I read!
On a happier note, I REALLY loved your exchange with the man about your “jaikets”! Like the book I just read “view everyone in the community as your comrades”!