Kelly Gibbons, artist and writer, about me

Tuesday, July 13, 2004

Where do your feet take you when you enter a book store? What's that twinge you get when you hear about a movie you're suddenly dying to see?

These are two of the great indicators of your passion and interest, and where you should be heading in the pursuit of your art.~Chris Keane

After I swore upside down that I was going to stop wasting time, stay off the computer and well, get my butt in gear writing I started surfing and one site, led to another, and another, and well, you guessed it I was doing exactly what I said I wasn't going to do. But I found this great quote at www.writewhatyouknow.com. It also got me thinking.

So what books do I go for first in the bookstore? Hm, that's tough, is this now or before I was a writer? All of the last books I bought were either for writing or some sort of self help book.

Let's see:
A Wish Can Change Your Life
The Power of Intention
The Artist Way
Write it Down Make it Happen
The Best of the Magazine Markets
Children's Magazine Market
Inspiration to Publication
The Seed Handbook
How to Write
Doing Work You Love
Searching A Research Guide for Writers
Essentials of English
The Renegade Writer
On Writing (Stephen King's book)

After reading all of these I can't say I feel anymore like a writer or any more Helped! Did I learn anything from them? Of course, but...

Sadly, I can barely remember what books I used to head for before I decided to become a writer. Actually, I am not super picky when it comes to books. I read everything. While camping, I didn't bring any books, it was part of the plan, but I found a stash in the laundry room and I am going admit something here. I picked up a Danielle Steele book, and I couldn't put it down and not only did I like it, I cried. But, I've been known to cry during commercials, so that might not be saying much.

OK, getting back on track, so, what books am I really drawn to. When I was a kid my favorite books were by Judy Blume and V.C. Andrews, and I loved mysteries and ghost stories, and true stories about unexplained events like Big Foot, the Lock Ness Monster, and UFO's. I love ghost stories, my first published article was about famous graves in my area, and when I want to live in a haunted house. Seriously. Weird, yes, but this is me.

This is part of an email reply that I sent to a friend who sent me a much needed email after yesterday's post. He to was going through some crappy creative stuff and we both "fixed" ourselves by walking away and doing other things. Anyway here's what I wrote:

I have never been like anyone else and like you and your work, I see that conforming is not the answer. I am different. I won't be happy unless I am doing what I want and that is definitely not sitting behind a desk in an office somewhere. Thanks for reminding me.

It also made me realize that I am not going to be happy writing the stuff other people want. I am happy when I am writing about things I like. They might be weird things, they might not appeal to everyone, but I like them none the less.

I'm not ordinary, I do not fit the mold, never have never will. Is there anything wrong with that? Hell, no! Why should I try to write about things that don't get me excited? If they don't excite me, they sure as hell aren't going to excite anyone else.

But this means I have my work cut out for me. I have no idea where I'll send or sell this kind of work. Is this a genre? Gosh, I feel so dumb sometimes. But, I can say that as I write this, I feel excited about researching and writing again, and that's a good thing. Ugh, how dare I quote Martha Stewart!

P.S. For the record, I didn't go into a whole lot about movies, because, I don't watch a whole lot of movies. I mostly catch them when they finally get to TV. I think the last movie I saw at the theatre was The Moth Man Prophecies. I did watch Dream Catcher the other day, but that might be old too, I'm not sure. The movies that excite me are romantic comedies and suspense (but not gore), and although I didn't like the Moth Man Prophecies that much, the premises got me excited enough to go to the movies.

posted by Kelly @ 7/13/2004 06:24:00 PM

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