Last week has been disastrous. Have become so dependent on my Blackberry to post and, for some reason, my email hasn't been working ... BUT, it's back. Although just posted 3 times to www.imperfectpoetry.blogspot.com, so still a bit shaky.
Anyway, life as a poet has been slow, though my mind has been in overdrive. It's my birthday today (soon to be yesterday for me) and I am doing the whole 're-evaluation of life' thing. Once again, I wonder what it is about The Word that continues to have me turning down opportunities to work in other genres.
It is time to put my poetry development projects on the back-burner and focus on actually making a living. A difficult choice to make but, at some stage, pragmatism has to take over. I do it willingly because it is frustrating blindly pursuing dreams and not enjoying the journey. I have issues with the idea of an artist as society's martyrs in touch with humankind's suffering.
As an artist, I believe we are all entitled to the pleasures and joys of living - emotionally, physically, mentally and financially ...... especially financially. Creativity and innovation, for me, require calm and focus. When hustling to connect ends, there is no time to devote to the requirements of perfection in craft.
I dream of spending months writing, reading, exploring the beauty of the written word. But need to know the bills are paid.
A journey all artists have to take and one I am feeling less and less enthusiastic about. Damn, it is irritating being a dreamer
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4 comments:
Happy birthday! I hope you may find a way to make a living and write at the same time. The two are hardly compatible, but still, I hope.
Hope you had a wonderful day but it sounds as though it wasn't so pleasant for you. When I lived in Manhattan I saw one talented person after another being turned down time and time again. Musicians, actors, writers. There are SO many people with SO much talent and I imagine that the percentage of them that end up making a living at it is very low.
I've run across many talented bloggers as well. They all have their "day jobs" to pay the bills and pursue their passions in the time that's left to them. We all have to work for a living, all have bills to pay and all have dreams we desperately would like to see culminate.
It will happen for you if it's meant to be. I sense that you feel you are being disloyal to your heart by not following it. I submit that you are being practical and there are times in our lives when that is what is called for. It's not the end. It may be a new beginning.
Peace...........
Ke a leboha, ntate rethabile. And thank you helen. It does feel like something of a new beginning. At the ripe young age of 34, I am finding some element of direction in balancing the creative with the money side of things. The pursuit of poetry is a long term endeavour, so I need to spend more time on creating the necessary environment for me to function more comfortably as a poet. time will tell.
easy
Thanks Swati. I have finally come to terms with the fact that 30 is rapidly disappearing in the distance behind me and starting to enjoy being young again.
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