Comments on: Getting it ‘out there’. http://www.jeffvandermeer.com/2009/11/23/getting-it-out-there/ Jeff VanderMeer Thu, 18 Mar 2010 18:54:36 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Liam Sharp http://www.jeffvandermeer.com/2009/11/23/getting-it-out-there/comment-page-1/#comment-27733 Liam Sharp Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:53:50 +0000 http://www.jeffvandermeer.com/2009/11/23/getting-it-out-there/#comment-27733 Ian - thank you so much for the comment. I wonder, with regard to writers and actors, if it actually isn't JUST as hard - actors by necessity having to perform, whereas the writerly instinct isn't always to do that? I for one struggle to read aloud - it may be the dyslexia that runs through my family like a curse, or it may be nerves, lack of practice, whatever. I've learnt to cope with talking in public - just about! - but it's not something I would have set out to do through choice! Rick - thanks for that. I can't comment on sports people, I don't know any! Perhaps there are just as many who tried and failed, or who were discouraged, led down a less precarious path. The one saving grace is that we, as creatives, can continue our careers to the bitter end, and often we are able to keep getting better... So cheers for small mercies eh? Take care, Liam. Ian – thank you so much for the comment. I wonder, with regard to writers and actors, if it actually isn’t JUST as hard – actors by necessity having to perform, whereas the writerly instinct isn’t always to do that? I for one struggle to read aloud – it may be the dyslexia that runs through my family like a curse, or it may be nerves, lack of practice, whatever. I’ve learnt to cope with talking in public – just about! – but it’s not something I would have set out to do through choice!
Rick – thanks for that. I can’t comment on sports people, I don’t know any! Perhaps there are just as many who tried and failed, or who were discouraged, led down a less precarious path. The one saving grace is that we, as creatives, can continue our careers to the bitter end, and often we are able to keep getting better…
So cheers for small mercies eh?

Take care,

Liam.

]]> By: Rick Porven http://www.jeffvandermeer.com/2009/11/23/getting-it-out-there/comment-page-1/#comment-27730 Rick Porven Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:42:42 +0000 http://www.jeffvandermeer.com/2009/11/23/getting-it-out-there/#comment-27730 Liam, needess to say I am inspired at your tenacity and impressed at how you have reinvented and reestablished yourself throughout the years. And you fail to add that you are a family man and that you do all this in spite of all the responsibilities and obligations that entails. I've often wondered why the business side of things is so difficult for the artist/writer. It is almost universally assumed that the talents we have developed over years of training, practice and dedication, are just God (for lack of a better word) given gifts that we should somehow not profit from. Along with the ridiculous stereotype of the starving artist. In contrast, a person who similarly dedicates his entire life and talent to learning a professional sport is rewarded with obscene amounts of money and adoring fans. There are a few creative individuals that do reach these heights of success, yet in the art/writing world, I don't feel the proportions of successes/failures are quite the same ratio. Maybe my perspective is somewhat jaded by living in the U.S. Either way, you are correct. It is up to the individual to sell themselves as best they can. No one else will do it for them. Cheers Liam, needess to say I am inspired at your tenacity and impressed at how you have reinvented and reestablished yourself throughout the years. And you fail to add that you are a family man and that you do all this in spite of all the responsibilities and obligations that entails.

I’ve often wondered why the business side of things is so difficult for the artist/writer. It is almost universally assumed that the talents we have developed over years of training, practice and dedication, are just God (for lack of a better word) given gifts that we should somehow not profit from. Along with the ridiculous stereotype of the starving artist.

In contrast, a person who similarly dedicates his entire life and talent to learning a professional sport is rewarded with obscene amounts of money and adoring fans.

There are a few creative individuals that do reach these heights of success, yet in the art/writing world, I don’t feel the proportions of successes/failures are quite the same ratio. Maybe my perspective is somewhat jaded by living in the U.S.

Either way, you are correct. It is up to the individual to sell themselves as best they can. No one else will do it for them.

Cheers

]]> By: Ian Macleod http://www.jeffvandermeer.com/2009/11/23/getting-it-out-there/comment-page-1/#comment-27721 Ian Macleod Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:46:31 +0000 http://www.jeffvandermeer.com/2009/11/23/getting-it-out-there/#comment-27721 Couldn't agree more with what you say. It's not quite as bad for writers as it is for actors who have to stand on stage and audition, but the feeling is pretty much the same. Writing is a high risk activity and I guess that putting various tender aspects of yourself on the line is what it's all about. Some of this never really feels very natural for most writers. But who ever said that it should do? Couldn’t agree more with what you say. It’s not quite as bad for writers as it is for actors who have to stand on stage and audition, but the feeling is pretty much the same. Writing is a high risk activity and I guess that putting various tender aspects of yourself on the line is what it’s all about. Some of this never really feels very natural for most writers. But who ever said that it should do?

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