For the Love of It

Tic. Tic. Tic. Yep, that's the clock running out - You have until July 31 to polish that manuscript and get us your first chapter and synopsis (e-mail your entry to novelmatters@gmail.com) in order to qualify for the Audience with an Agent Contest. Want Wendy Lawton to read your work? Well chop-chop! Get your work in before the deadline!

We've had some interesting discussions on Novel Matters recently about what it means to put your name out there - to "go public". Last week we touched on the ethereal, smoke and mirror nature of fame, of how difficult a thing success is to measure.

We talked about the dilemma of the Christian writer with a personal mandate to put Jesus first in all things and yet is legitimately called upon to make a name for herself. We discovered there are no easy answers. I enjoyed the discussion and it put me in mind of David Budbill's poem:

Dilemma
David Budbill

I want to be
famous
so I can be
humble
about being
famous.

What good is my
humility
when I am
stuck
in this
obscurity?

I enjoy the irony of the poem, but I truly appreciate the honesty. How many of us creative types can relate to those secreted thoughts? How many of us, while incubating, sculpting, and crafting our art have entertained, even fleetingly, the uninvited idea that this work of art, this creation could be "the one"? The one that launches me out of the basement of anonymous toiling and into the backseat of the limo of limelight. I can see me now, waving to the crowds, a bashful aw-shucks smile on my face.

They are the thoughts we bat away with impatient hand. I'm not doing this for glory and recognition, we stoutly tell ourselves. I'm doing it for....LOVE....of....God......and......art....and...well, I'm doing it for love that's all.

It's true, of course, that we wrestle with art because of love. God created us with a longing for beauty and a capacity to create (which is a reflection of His nature in us). Most of us who write also pursue other forms of art and creativity. I know many writers who are also musicians - many also writing music - and some who paint, others who knit (Camy Tang knits on a nearly professional level - it's a sight to behold!). My first "career" was acting, and I also sing (can't play an instrument, sad to say). We pursue these avenues of art and creativity because, well, because we love them. We don't necessarily plan to become famous because of them, but we pursue them wholeheartedly anyway.

What do you pursue in the quest for beauty and creative outlet? How does it make you feel? Why doesn't it matter if no one else ever sees your work, or appreciates it the way you do? Share you talents! Share you passions!