tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22927650.post1587411443160383414..comments2023-09-22T02:24:42.144-07:00Comments on a light inside: Why Bother Writing Novels?Jenna St.Hilairehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16528611770211261141noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22927650.post-54705386375554618062011-05-09T18:51:47.364-07:002011-05-09T18:51:47.364-07:00Thanks for coming by, Callie! I'm glad you enj...Thanks for coming by, <b>Callie!</b> I'm glad you enjoyed the piece. :)Jenna St. Hilairehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04474588706124865006noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22927650.post-43565232369273727202011-05-08T22:57:55.778-07:002011-05-08T22:57:55.778-07:00Beautifully said and just the inspiration needed.Beautifully said and just the inspiration needed.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22927650.post-84462962234129647822011-05-03T12:32:52.489-07:002011-05-03T12:32:52.489-07:00Annie, your reasons for never listening to the war...<b>Annie,</b> your reasons for never listening to the warnings about impracticality made me laugh. They're both just so true.<br /><br />I suspected the words "impractical beauty" might get some pushback, but I didn't expect the wholehearted, lovely defense of the necessity of beauty. Thanks, <b>Masha.</b> And thanks to <b>Maria</b> for encouraging me to keep writing--I've needed that this week--and <b>Arabella</b> for continuing Masha's point. I agree, Arabella. Good enough is simply not enough. Not for me.Jenna St. Hilairehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04474588706124865006noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22927650.post-56546924474265873312011-05-03T08:28:59.199-07:002011-05-03T08:28:59.199-07:00A few months ago I read this wonderful comment (an...A few months ago I read this wonderful comment (and wish I'd copied it verbatim). But it was basically that the best sacred art was created by secular artists, because their art was for art's sake. This fits very much with what you write, Masha, about secular artists often "getting God" better than those who claim Him but are indifferent about the quality of their artistry. I see this all the time. Truth is truth, no matter the source or medium that expresses it.<br /><br />We create because we're made in the image of the Creator of everything. But how we create or the quality of our artistry says a lot about our aims. If we just want to parrot or propagate a message--call it artistic prosletyzation--we will be artistically confined to the message and our talents; mechanistic, without spark. But if we want to express the heart of God and truth, were dealing with fire, and only our best will do as we seek to get out of the way of interfering.. This is <br />where the "clinical insecurity" comes in. We want to do our very best, but know that our best is not enough and will never be enough; only that divine spark will do. "Good enough" is not even on the table, and it will never satisfy hunger for God or endure.<br /><br />--ArabellaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22927650.post-10375839983711745832011-05-03T08:23:14.547-07:002011-05-03T08:23:14.547-07:00Wow! Amen to everything Masha just said. Yes, ple...Wow! Amen to everything Masha just said. Yes, please keep writing and definitely keep blogging, if only for the sake of lurkers such as me.Marianoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22927650.post-83126876638641637712011-05-03T04:57:49.156-07:002011-05-03T04:57:49.156-07:00True Beauty is never impractical, it's essenti...True Beauty is never impractical, it's essential. It's either the current pope, or Von Balthasar who says the man who turns his back on beauty can "no longer pray, and soon will be unable to love." The need for beauty is built into our nature. The catechism reminds us that Truth is beauty itself. The creation of beauty for it's own sake is the pursuit of God, that's why so many artists can be complete atheists and still "get" God in a fuller sense than many professing Christians - they are training themselves to see as God sees. <br /><br />You should hunt down Rainer Maria Rilke's "Letters to a young poet" - he gives a fantastic, and very kind, letter on why the writer must write. <br /><br />I thought it was funny too, your saying "being of the artistic personality and therefore clinically insecure.." I've always thought the opposite, the artistic personality as something unaffectedly over-confident. :)<br /><br />Great post!<br />BlessingsMashahttp://www.cyganeria-masha.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22927650.post-2758368105683751652011-05-02T20:43:51.918-07:002011-05-02T20:43:51.918-07:00"There are no brakes on the drive of an inbor..."There are no brakes on the drive of an inborn writing tendency. I can't stop."<br /><br />That is of course the most basic and fundamental reason. My parents used to try to talk me out of 'wanting to be a writer' by emphasizing it's impracticality. I never listened to them on that point because:<br />1. Being a writer is far more impractical than non-writers imagine.<br />2. I knew there was no way I would be able to reason my way out of writing: I just can't stop.<br /><br />Also, I agree that my characters deserve to be known; the other part of that is that I want desperately to know my characters and discover them. (Okay, I've spiraled into the vaguely mentally unstable, so I'll stop now :) )Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com