Slipping back into the mess of the anxious worry about exams. The few quiet days after the New Year felt pretty good. I'm looking forward to getting back to the mindset once the exams are behind. As the saying goes, it's not how many years in your life that matters but how much life in your years. This week has been particularly enlightening, mostly thanks to the select materials the good people of Hubski have posted. From "Ask Polly" to Sarah Silverman being the kindest soul, there have been many things to learn from this week alone. Few weeks are as bright for me. I can't seem to find my place anywhere. I wouldn't even know what I'm looking for to begin with. I enjoy serious discussions that delve in-depth, rather than the shallow talks about who's more right that seem so prevalent around. (I also realize now that I haven't had a personal conversation with anyone for about a year) Rosa... Figuring out a fictional world and a story for fictional personalities is a long, dark process. It's walking in a thick fog without a clue for why you're there, let alone where you're going. Meanwhile, I found a solution for another story that I wanted to tell for years now. Suddenly, I know what I want to write. It's a good story, though I doubt many people would be interested in it as much as I am. I'm going to publish it, but it's going to my personal website for free rather than into books for cash. Writers of Hubski: I'm having trouble with the concept of receiving money for my art. Putting a price tag on a story of mine seems very impersonal and therefore deeply uncomfortable. If I could afford it, I'd rather just give all of my works away for free — but I wouldn't be able to, for the time I am to spend upon them. What do?
You laid out the options yourself: 1. Surrender your morals and accept money for your work. 2. Keep your morals and give your work away for free. 3. Compromise neither and keep your work as a private, purely personal endeavor. I purposely chose the word work over art. Art is something that's appreciated for its aesthetic qualities. The aesthetic qualities that resonate with an individual vary greatly from person to person; one may see a piece of graffiti as ugly defacement, whilst another sees it as a beautiful piece of artistic expression. An old neighbor of mine who's a retired painter once asked me show him some music which I thought was genius. He hated it and essentially said that it was dreadful fetishism of mind that had no soul. As such, I feel it is a bit imposing to say to someone that you have created some art. You of course believe in its artistic qualities by virtue of the fact that you made it (well, hopefully you do.) But once you put it out there, for free or for a price, it is no longer defined solely by your interpretation. In fact, how you think of your work will matter very little to some. So I'd let go of the romantic notion that you're creating art and instead perceive it as work. And just like anyone else's work, the result of it is a product, to sell or to give away. If you do sell it, any money you're fortunate enough to make off of it allows you to keep working (i.e. doing what you love). If people want to elevate it to the realm of art then that's great.Writers of Hubski: I'm having trouble with the concept of receiving money for my art. Putting a price tag on a story of mine seems very impersonal and therefore deeply uncomfortable. If I could afford it, I'd rather just give all of my works away for free — but I wouldn't be able to, for the time I am to spend upon them. What do?