Your essay resonates with me on many levels. I feel strongly about writing the stories I want to read and I resist the "write-to-market" advice churned out by self-proclaimed book marketing experts. An author's soul is revealed through the stories they tell. The same holds true for the artist and the poet. I will never accept the notion that you can't build an audience and make money through creating art and stories that you love.
Thanks! I feel like if I wrote to market, writing would become just another job. As a copywriter, I already have a job where I essentially write to market. Like you say, I want to write to explore my soul and to build a community of people interested in the questions I'm asking.
Thank you for reading and sharing this and for putting your wonderful work out into the world!
Thanks! Years ago, I bought a fancy microphone 🎙️ with the plan of making a podcast. The podcast didn’t happen at that time, but I’ve decided to finally inbox it and figure out how to use it. Perhaps, there will someday be a podcast version of Weirdo Poetry
I really enjoyed reading this, thanks for your words of inspiration. I was raised on Musicals too, Doris Day mainly, always on TV and in the car - there was no escaping :-)
1) Pretty sure those squirrels and geese were in my foggy morning recently and 2) I love the discussion about binary thinking and the many forms creativity takes. Well done!
Thank you for this, Jason. And I appreciate the audio version. (I must learn to do that.) The audio brings your voice and inflection into the words and gives them more meaning to me.
Ah Jason we have still another thing in common: my biological mother was also mentally ill and her illness wound itself tightly with evangelical christianity... angels, demons all of it. Nightmaresville for me. And that is an understatement. Fortunately the courts ordered, due to my biological agents behavior that, around age 5, I live primarily with my grandmother. Also by court order I had to visit my biologics for one weekend per month. Even at age 6 I called those mandatory visits "visits to hell".
I wholeheartedly agree with you that using ones imagination and creativity constructively is a life sustaining necessity and isn't at all akin to seeing demons and evil boogeymen lurking in the fridge under the Kraft cheese slices.
One of the things I have the hardest time of letting go of is wishing my mom could've had more support for her mental health issues. While I was relatively fortunate in her issues mostly being eccentricities and neglect instead of abuse as I was growing up, she did chase my youngest brother around with a knife when he was a teen.
These experiences have given me a fascination for stories that explore ways mental health, religiosity, and spirituality differ, intertwine and intersect.
Creativity definitely saved me from a life that could've been pretty bleak.
My heart breaks for your childhood visits to hell and and grateful your grandmother was there for you.
I hear you and relate with you on all of this too. I too wish there had been more mental health awareness... Creativity
is indeed a lifeline for me too!! Couldn't have survived without it. And I too have a fascination with stories that explore mental health, religiosity, creativity, spirituality, good mental health coping skills... It's part of why I like the Hopepunk genre so much. My heart breaks for your childhood too and I'm so grateful we met and are friends! A mutual friendship support system is a pricelessly valuable thing.
Please consider yourself hugged or fist-bumped if that is more welcome. 😊☕💚💚💚💚
You are remarkable
Thank you!
Your essay is brilliant and simple. Your poetry shows the brilliance of simplicity.
Thanks!
Your essay resonates with me on many levels. I feel strongly about writing the stories I want to read and I resist the "write-to-market" advice churned out by self-proclaimed book marketing experts. An author's soul is revealed through the stories they tell. The same holds true for the artist and the poet. I will never accept the notion that you can't build an audience and make money through creating art and stories that you love.
Thanks! I feel like if I wrote to market, writing would become just another job. As a copywriter, I already have a job where I essentially write to market. Like you say, I want to write to explore my soul and to build a community of people interested in the questions I'm asking.
Thank you for reading and sharing this and for putting your wonderful work out into the world!
Heavy. Thanks for sharing all this.
Thank you for being here! Sharing this stuff makes it feel a little lighter
The audio is a bonus. I love hearing you say "Be the weird you want to see in the world!" in your own voice.
Thanks! Years ago, I bought a fancy microphone 🎙️ with the plan of making a podcast. The podcast didn’t happen at that time, but I’ve decided to finally inbox it and figure out how to use it. Perhaps, there will someday be a podcast version of Weirdo Poetry
That's a cool idea.
I really enjoyed reading this, thanks for your words of inspiration. I was raised on Musicals too, Doris Day mainly, always on TV and in the car - there was no escaping :-)
My mom also loved Dorris Day! I'm grateful now for all of that exposure to musicals, but it sure did feel oppressive as a kid.
1) Pretty sure those squirrels and geese were in my foggy morning recently and 2) I love the discussion about binary thinking and the many forms creativity takes. Well done!
Thanks! The sounds of geese honking as they migrate is one of my favorite signs of the seasons
Thank you for this, Jason. And I appreciate the audio version. (I must learn to do that.) The audio brings your voice and inflection into the words and gives them more meaning to me.
Thanks! I've been reluctant to put share my actual voice, but am pushing through my fears.
Ah Jason we have still another thing in common: my biological mother was also mentally ill and her illness wound itself tightly with evangelical christianity... angels, demons all of it. Nightmaresville for me. And that is an understatement. Fortunately the courts ordered, due to my biological agents behavior that, around age 5, I live primarily with my grandmother. Also by court order I had to visit my biologics for one weekend per month. Even at age 6 I called those mandatory visits "visits to hell".
I wholeheartedly agree with you that using ones imagination and creativity constructively is a life sustaining necessity and isn't at all akin to seeing demons and evil boogeymen lurking in the fridge under the Kraft cheese slices.
One of the things I have the hardest time of letting go of is wishing my mom could've had more support for her mental health issues. While I was relatively fortunate in her issues mostly being eccentricities and neglect instead of abuse as I was growing up, she did chase my youngest brother around with a knife when he was a teen.
These experiences have given me a fascination for stories that explore ways mental health, religiosity, and spirituality differ, intertwine and intersect.
Creativity definitely saved me from a life that could've been pretty bleak.
My heart breaks for your childhood visits to hell and and grateful your grandmother was there for you.
I hear you and relate with you on all of this too. I too wish there had been more mental health awareness... Creativity
is indeed a lifeline for me too!! Couldn't have survived without it. And I too have a fascination with stories that explore mental health, religiosity, creativity, spirituality, good mental health coping skills... It's part of why I like the Hopepunk genre so much. My heart breaks for your childhood too and I'm so grateful we met and are friends! A mutual friendship support system is a pricelessly valuable thing.
Please consider yourself hugged or fist-bumped if that is more welcome. 😊☕💚💚💚💚
so good, Jason.
Thanks!
to hear a haiku
lines containing multitudes
the soft words spoken
Beautiful, Jason.
Thank you, Amie!
Thank you for sharing your experience, Jason, which has some overlap with my own. I am so glad you found your voice through it all.
Thanks! I'm grateful for you taking the time to read and comment!