This is the last post I'll be making from here.
Check out my new website at sandy-charlton.com for my new site.
Content goes up everyday!
Sincerely,
The Illustrious Mr. Charlton
p.s. Thanks Blogger, for all the good times. Time to put on my big boy pants and make my own site!
Tuesday 17 May 2016
Tuesday 5 January 2016
New Years Resolutions, or How I Decided to Sell Out.
I'm not very good at resolutions. I haven't actually been able to stick with any for as long as I can remember. Over the break I was invited to my girlfriend's cabin. They have a ritual where they put their predictions for the next year in a champagne bottle, breaking it open the next year to see if what they had put in came true. I'm not a fan of trying to predict the future, so I left my resolutions pretty vague.
The only thing I put in for certain is I'd love to get paid to write something.
Writing comes pretty easy to me. I can sit down, start hammering away at the keyboard, and have hours whittle away, not noticing that time is flying by. I can crank out thousands of words in a session without having to think about it very much. The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of being a writer. It's a sexy profession for an introvert. You work, by and large, for yourself. You'll have fans who'll tend to be less stalkerish than fans of musicians or movie stars; they tend to also be literate. You might have deadlines, but everything else does.
Writing is easy. Sitting down to write, well, that's something else altogether.
Once you get going, writing is a breeze. What people forget though, and this is true in any vein of artistry, whether it's written or drawn or sculpted or shot or played out on a guitar, is this; art is still work.
It's great work, if you can get paid for it. The words 'Starving Artist' are used for a reason though. At the end of the day, if you come home and write or paint or make internet videos or create a game, it's work. It's work that nurtures the soul, sure, but it is still work. It's not a break.
You know what I'd rather be doing right now? I'll give you a list.
Playing video games
Watching a movie
Having sex
Making food
Eating food
Surfing the internet
Reading a book
Going for a stroll
Building a lego sculpture
Drinking with friends
Lying on my back and pouring Christmas chocolate down my throat while making gurgling sounds.
etc...
Creating art is still work. It's also work that people don't really want to pay for. People have no issue paying five dollars for a coffee. People have a hard time paying for ten dollar book, or a five dollar video game. Artists tend to starve. It's a feast for the very few who find commercial success. It's famine for most.
That's okay. Truthfully, it's always been that way.
So then why is my resolution to get paid for writing? Why do I want to get paid for my art, even if it's terrible? It's because in my head that legitimizes it. When someone asks me what I do I can say, head held high, "I'm a writer. At one point, I have put words onto paper, and then someone gave me money for them. I tricked some jerk into buying my thoughts completely based in fantasy. Currency was transported from their hands to mine." Does it make me a better artist? I doubt it.
They say that success is getting paid for doing something that you are passionate about. I'm a lousy designer. I don't always work well with other, especially when it comes to creative ventures. The only thing I can say I am good at is coming up with ideas. And writing is just putting those ideas down on paper. Someone else can make a movie or a game or a painting or a song about it, if it ever comes to that. Right now, the only thing I've got is a head full of dumb ideas. Hopefully someone is looking to buy dumb ideas.
But then again, Trump is the front runner for the Republican party. Maybe selling dumb ideas won't be that hard.
Sincerely,
The Illustrious Mr. Charlton
p.s. I realise that self publishing is a thing. Writing I'm good at. Selling myself, not so much.
p.s.s. If I get desperate, there is a huge market for Yif Erotic Fiction. I can totally write sexy trash.
p.s.s.s. I also pride myself on being a very good amateur cook. I have that going for me as well.
p.s.s.s.s. This took me approximately forty five minutes for approximately seven hundred and fifty words. If you want to know, I can bang out a thousand words of decent writing in about an hour.
The only thing I put in for certain is I'd love to get paid to write something.
Writing comes pretty easy to me. I can sit down, start hammering away at the keyboard, and have hours whittle away, not noticing that time is flying by. I can crank out thousands of words in a session without having to think about it very much. The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of being a writer. It's a sexy profession for an introvert. You work, by and large, for yourself. You'll have fans who'll tend to be less stalkerish than fans of musicians or movie stars; they tend to also be literate. You might have deadlines, but everything else does.
Writing is easy. Sitting down to write, well, that's something else altogether.
Once you get going, writing is a breeze. What people forget though, and this is true in any vein of artistry, whether it's written or drawn or sculpted or shot or played out on a guitar, is this; art is still work.
It's great work, if you can get paid for it. The words 'Starving Artist' are used for a reason though. At the end of the day, if you come home and write or paint or make internet videos or create a game, it's work. It's work that nurtures the soul, sure, but it is still work. It's not a break.
You know what I'd rather be doing right now? I'll give you a list.
Playing video games
Watching a movie
Having sex
Making food
Eating food
Surfing the internet
Reading a book
Going for a stroll
Building a lego sculpture
Drinking with friends
Lying on my back and pouring Christmas chocolate down my throat while making gurgling sounds.
etc...
Creating art is still work. It's also work that people don't really want to pay for. People have no issue paying five dollars for a coffee. People have a hard time paying for ten dollar book, or a five dollar video game. Artists tend to starve. It's a feast for the very few who find commercial success. It's famine for most.
That's okay. Truthfully, it's always been that way.
So then why is my resolution to get paid for writing? Why do I want to get paid for my art, even if it's terrible? It's because in my head that legitimizes it. When someone asks me what I do I can say, head held high, "I'm a writer. At one point, I have put words onto paper, and then someone gave me money for them. I tricked some jerk into buying my thoughts completely based in fantasy. Currency was transported from their hands to mine." Does it make me a better artist? I doubt it.
They say that success is getting paid for doing something that you are passionate about. I'm a lousy designer. I don't always work well with other, especially when it comes to creative ventures. The only thing I can say I am good at is coming up with ideas. And writing is just putting those ideas down on paper. Someone else can make a movie or a game or a painting or a song about it, if it ever comes to that. Right now, the only thing I've got is a head full of dumb ideas. Hopefully someone is looking to buy dumb ideas.
But then again, Trump is the front runner for the Republican party. Maybe selling dumb ideas won't be that hard.
Sincerely,
The Illustrious Mr. Charlton
p.s. I realise that self publishing is a thing. Writing I'm good at. Selling myself, not so much.
p.s.s. If I get desperate, there is a huge market for Yif Erotic Fiction. I can totally write sexy trash.
p.s.s.s. I also pride myself on being a very good amateur cook. I have that going for me as well.
p.s.s.s.s. This took me approximately forty five minutes for approximately seven hundred and fifty words. If you want to know, I can bang out a thousand words of decent writing in about an hour.
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