Interview on Pambazuka.org

Copy this link into your browser to listen:

http://www.pambazuka.org/en/broadcasts/index.php

In Greatness,
GaBrilla

27 thoughts on Blogging for Artists

I read this really informative and at times funny article on www.socialnetworksformusicians.com. There were lots of good info for artists as well.

Guest Post: Robert Bruce is one of the most widely read, linked and reviled poets working on the web today. Grab yourself a free poem every Monday morning, subscribe to Knife Gun Pen.

1. There’s never been a better time to be a working artist. Ever.

2. There’s never been a worse time to be a working artist (if you’re not truly dedicated to your craft).

3. Social Media will not help you if you’re sending folks to sniff out a pile of crap.

4. If you’re thinking about SEO while writing your digital novel, you’re already screwed. Quit now.

5. The tech tools do not make the artist.

6. If you’re spending more time on Twitter than on your novel/painting/film/poem/play/sculpture, you’re dead.

7. The creation of great art has nothing to do with Community.

8. You will never have as many readers/listeners/viewers as TechCrunch. Get over it.

9. If you’re the real thing, you’ll be around in 30 years, still working. Most of these services and sites you now admire will not.

10. Your Technorati rank is not as important as you think it is.

11. Do not try to please an “audience”. They will ultimately hate you for it.

12. Income isn’t proof of anything. Ask Van Gogh.

13. Aim for Greatness, not the front page of Digg.

14. If you have a fall back plan, you will, inevitably, fall back onto it.

15. Though tempting, you’ll never crush your own mediocrity working only four hours a week.

16. If success finds you, please resist the urge to open a restaurant or start a line of clothing.

17. You do not need the middleman anymore. Quit begging.

18. If you wouldn’t do it without an audience, don’t do it all.

19. Ultimately, nobody really cares about your work. It may seem “negative” but trust me, this knowledge will serve you well.

20. Artists don’t outsource. Unless you’re Andy Warhol.

21. Make the technology work for you. Not the other way around.

22. Remember that the mainstream culture has yet to catch on to the power of the individual artist online. Keep working.

23. Consider getting a second job instead of slapping another Adsense unit next to the .jpg of your latest painting. Contrary to popular belief, work won’t kill you.

24. You no longer need to live in New York or Los Angeles. See: Hugh.

25. Do not work for the good opinion of anyone. Work for joy, wonder and the Lord God Almighty.

26. You do not need a signed letter from The American Academy of Arts and Letters to begin.

27. Blogging is easy. Art is not

http://www.problogger.net/archives/2008/04/17/27-thoughts-on-blogging-for-the-artist/

The Wounded Artist

I have been committing a minimum of one hour a day to songwriting. At first I gave myself this somewhat unrealistic feat of writing a song a day, but I have been working on a new song I wrote entitled "Oh Son" since Wednesday.  I am happy that I am forcing myself to make the time daily. I read that in the beginning of a new project, you have to force yourself at first and then after sometime, you just fall into it, so, right on for the forcing.

I am sure that some of you have heard of the "Wounded Inner Child", well, I have been meditating on the "Wounded Inner Artist". The artist/creator/ess within us who loves color and music and movement and words. The part of many, that unfortunately goes neglected and locked away in a closet inside ourselves guarded by that Nasty Inner Critic (who, let me add, can be very viscous and abusive)

There are many ways for us to identify this part of ourselves. From my own experience, I know my inner critic is at work when I keep telling myself I am blocked (when what I really am is afraid) Here is a list of things that I have observed in a "Wounded Artist".

How to Identify a Wounded Artist (WA)

1- WA are frequently critical of everything artistic in a way that may or may not be objective

2- WA have difficulty enjoying beauty and expression in whatever form it comes in.

3- Phrases like "Everyone has music/ art/ a story in them and everyone can sing/ dance/ write" is grounds for a major argument with a WA

4- WA are constantly comparing people(themselves and others)

5- WA have not explored their own creative desires and mope around talkign about wehat they could/ should/would have done

6- WA project their fears/ assumptions and preconceived notions about what could happen to you if you pursued a dream of creating art.

Do you know people who do this? Do you do this? If so, there is a way out. A great person once said that most of art/music/ dance critics are wounded artists. How many of us view a piece of art or listen to a song and instead of just being present with the beauty, become "experts" on what art should be? What good music should sound like?

If one thinks that they are wounded, where do these wounds come from and how does it happen? Usually these wounds come from childhood humiliation or pressure to be perfect (whatever the hell that means) or be something else that someone wants you to be. At least it did for me.  At one point in my life, trying to fit into a box that was not created by me was one of my issues. My inner critic said, "Who are you to sing?", " Who told you, you could pick up a guitar and make music with it?".  Instead of allowing myself to just explore music and explore the developing phases of my voice/ art/ writing, I was pressured by various forces, for various reasons to either do something that did not resonate with my or to stay in a box that doesn't fit.

Yet, I persevere. I still battle those voices. But with every song I write. Every show I play. Every open mic I visit, that Inner Critic gets weaker, until one day,  I envision my Inner Artist knocking it upside the head, tying it up, escaping the closet and running free in the meadows in my mind.

In Greatness,

GaBrilla