Cyril Connolly said it best...

"Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for
the public and have no self."

A poem about being a writer by a guy named Charles Bukowski.

so you want to be a writer?
if it doesn't come bursting out of you
in spite of everything,
don't do it.

unless it comes unasked out of your
heart and your mind and your mouth
and your gut,
don't do it.

if you have to sit for hours
staring at your computer screen
or hunched over your typewriter
searching for words,
don't do it.

if you're doing it for money or fame,
don't do it.

if you're doing it because you want
women in your bed,
don't do it.

if you have to sit there and
rewrite it again and again,
don't do it.

if it's hard work just thinking about doing it,
don't do it.

if you're trying to write like somebody else,
forget about it.

if you have to wait for it to roar out of you,
then wait patiently.

if it never does roar out of you,
do something else.

if you first have to read it to your wife
or your girlfriend or your boyfriend
or your parents or to anybody at all,
you're not ready.

don't be like so many writers,
don't be like so many thousands of
people who call themselves writers,
don't be dull and boring and
pretentious, don't be consumed with self-love.

the libraries of the world have
yawned themselves to sleep
over your kind.
don't add to that.

don't do it.

unless it comes out of
your soul like a rocket,
unless being still would
drive you to madness or
suicide or murder,
don't do it.

unless the sun inside you is
burning your gut,
don't do it.

when it is truly time,
and if you have been chosen,
it will do it by
itself and it will keep on doing it
until you die or it dies in you.
there is no other way.
and there never was.

The time in your hand.

If you can really turn back the clock, then all that you have now,
the time spent with the people around you now, the things you believe
in now, pretty much everything will lose its significance, its
meaning. So, live it.

Mark Fenske says

"Progress comes from mistakes, not success. Pretty much all that
comes from success is copying. "

Weapon of Mass Destruction

The real weapon of mass destruction is in your living room, in front
of your couch. Turn off the madness. For a day. For your own good.

Bassist Meshell Ndegeocello on making it without a formal music education.

"Pray and be a decent human being. No one gets everything they want.
Nothing is promised. Enjoy what you do. Expectations cause you
suffering. Appreciate what you have at that moment—this is a fleeting
experience. Just enjoy it."

Must feed the work book... - Mark Fenske

"The job of a copywriter or art director isn't fun and it isn't easy.

Jackasses often get the final say about whether our work runs or is
even presented to a small group of people.
Genuine hacks often are given free rein to edit our work.
There is no honor in the advertising business.
Although you cannot create high level work without approaching it as
an artist, you will not find yourself treated as an artist.
In short, you will not be able to love the job of advertising
copywriter or art director as you would like to.
Do not fear.
Your desire is not muted.
Only misdirected.

This, i have found, is what can happen.
The process of creation is worthy of love and will return to you what
you seek.
The workbook is both the repository of your work and the feeding
mechanism for your brain in the process.
Do not waste your love on the business. It cannot meet you where an
artist deserves to be met. Love the process.".

I feel a song coming...

I was quite the dork/geek/unglam fella

the only thing is the lack of a partner.

anyway, I'll be decorating it,
add glitter,

make it pink
and put stickers..
yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, yeah.