Just Do It….Write Your Novel.
By Patty On August 18th, 2012
Don’t ignore your Muses. Muses become very angry if you ignore them and you will find yourself tired, bored, angry…or worse. FInish your paintings. Start your business. Volunteer for that charity.
Whatever it is, greater than yourself, that lives inside of you – take action today.
And if you find yourself losing your battle against Resistance, this little paperback called “The War of Art,” by classicist and successful screenwriter, Steven Pressfield, might help.
Excerpt from the War of Art:
“…if you were meant to cure cancer or write a symphony or crack cold fusion and you don’t do it, you not only hurt yourself, even destroy yourself, you hurt your children. You hurt me. You hurt the planet.
You shame the angels who watch over you and you spite the Almighty , who created you and only you with our unique gifts, for the sole purpose of nudging the human race one millimeter farther along its path back to God.
Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor. It’s a gift to the world and every being in it. Don’t cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you’ve got.”
What have you done Patty?
I agree a lot with the sentiment. There is a notion some have that we are here to struggle and there is somehow something noble in struggle for its own sake.
I agree, Aileen, there is something noble about fighting to rise above pedestrian struggle of survival, whether it be painting pictures, raising children or putting out a great meal for friends and family.
Personally, I put it in a biblical context
“Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. “
From the book:
“You know, Hitler wanted to be an artist. At eighteen he took his inheritance, seven hundred kronen, and moved to Vienna to live and study. He applied to the Academy of Fine Arts and later to the School of Architecture. Ever see one of his paintings? Neither have I. Resistance beat him. Call it overstatement but I’ll say it anyway: it was easier for Hitler to start World War II than it was for him to face a blank square of canvas>”
I have seen some of his drawings. (in books and on TV). I seem to remember that they where of buildings, which would have fitted into his interest in architecture.
Really facinating theory about where he got hs drive to conquer from. He sank into a depression when injured in WWI and one of the doctors played on the narcistic aspect that he saw in Hitler’s personality and convinced him that his life was saved because he had a destiny to realise in helping to rebuild Germany.
He might have thought that the art of war or word domination was his true muse!
Reading the above extracts from the book one can’t help wishing that the author’s Muses had told him to invade Poland rather than write this. At least then he could have been arrested.
He wrote “The Legend of Beggar Vance,” Frank.
Here is his website for you if you want more.