You Have To Grind

In the next couple months I will be a graduate of Columbia College Chicago. After transferring from a community college, it only took me three years to earn my degree. At this point in time it’s normal for a lot of soon to be graduates to worry about their futures and careers (I’d be lying if I said I had no such anxieties). But as the years have gone by that sense of worry has slowly been drifting away.

This is because with each year I learned more about myself and what I wanted out of life. I’ve learned time management skills, and how to have better discipline with my work. And it has paid off. Now more than ever the opportunities for work are coming in from all over the place. My work and professionalism has created a strong resume that I can stand by and be proud of. 

In three years though I’ve experienced people in the opposite shoes. Now of course I’ve had my own lazy days (or weeks), but I eventually learned to get myself in gear and back to work. Yet there are some people that don’t push themselves, that don’t (or won’t) do the work necessary to get recognized. 

One moment comes to mind in particular. For one class, my final project involved putting together a small comic script and some pages of art. I was in charge of the script and I was to find an artist to collaborate with the art. I interviewed multiple people, even making it clear that I was going to pay them, and that any art they created they were more than welcomed to use for their portfolio. 

If there was anything more disappointing than those who didn’t bother to take the opportunity, it was those who said they would and then ended up quitting. I couldn’t understand it, how does one pass up on such an opportunity? You’re getting paid, and secondly, it builds upon your resume for other people to see your work.

There’s this myth of being an artist: when you’re sitting by the attic window, writing away with your quill and ink, the only light coming from your candle and the moon. Then all of a sudden the magical inspiration fairy comes swooping in and farts inspiration into your ear and that’s how great art is made. 

This is straight up B.S. 

I have my own saying for art. Whether you are a writer, a musician, a graphic designer, etc. This saying applies to all forms of art:

Whatever it is you want to do with your life you need to love it. It needs to make you happy and give you fulfillment. You need to work with all that passion for it, but you need to work at it like a shitty nine to five job. That’s the only way you’ll see your passion come to life.

Creating art is a job, it takes time and effort, you can’t sit around and wait for it. I’m glad that over the years that clicked stronger and stronger within me. You need to be willing to grind, to do the work to get your name out there, step outside of your comfort zone. Seize opportunity and do your best with it. If you sit around and twiddle your thumbs you’re missing out on something that could be great. 

Best of luck at all your endeavors.

Here is an Andy Warhol quote to consider.

“Why do people think artists are special? It’s just another job.”

In Finding Voice

When you’re beginning to creatively write you have to learn about all the aspects of a good story: the characters, plot, setting, theme, etc. But there is one aspect I struggled with for the longest, and then it became my greatest strength: voice.

The best way I can describe voice is by calling it the tone or the vibe of the story. Voice can come from the narrator, and how the narrator tells the story can put a spin on it. The voice gives authenticity. But voice also plays an immense role onto the writer, because as the writer you are using your narrator as a medium for the story. It’s about how you get the essence of who you are through to your story and who your narrator is. 

When I began reading it was from the likes of Bram Stoker, Ernest Hemingway, and Franz Kafka, and these men among many other writers would become my inspirations for my own writing. At the time I was much more aware of classical literature and knew nothing of contemporary work. And because of that I got it fixed in my head that was how all writing was to be. I wanted to be a great writer so I should write like the greats did. 

So in the beginning I tried to somewhat mimic, I tried to be flowery with my words. And whenever  I wrote a story with words that appeared to be more laid back, modern, or involve cussing I felt incredibly guilty, as if I was disrespecting my heroes. I wanted to be as great as them but whenever I sat down with my pen or at a keyboard something about my stories always felt off. As if they were missing something and it added much stress. 

My writing style and view on voice changed when a friend recommended me Joe Meno’s Hairstyles of the Damned. The friend knew my love for punk music and coming of age stories and said I would dig it. I instantly fell in love with it within the first few chapters and by the end had come to a great personal realization.

I had always believed that as a writer you had to be 100% professional, 100% flowery, and 100% act and write like an “adult”. In my hands I had just finished a book written by a pretty professional writer (who is an adult), and who wrote like the way I spoke. Joe writes honestly for his characters and it was then when I realized that I wasn’t being honest to myself. I had been putting personal restrictions on my own writing, forcing myself by following made up guidelines.  

I had this stereotype in my head that I was trying to become and it just wasn’t who I was or who I wanted to be. As a writer I believe in being professional and going about my work with the upmost discipline, but when I write I want it to be me on the page, not someone I am pretending to be. Hairstyles of the Damned taught me that you can be a professional writer and write however you wish, that there isn’t just one master voice. The world of literature has so many voices and some will work for some people and some won’t. That book taught me to give myself a break and to be free with my words, that if my words are honest to the story then they will work.