Baby's First Blog Post; May 12 2019
My thoughts today are on artists, and how much we put ourselves down.
It's strange that artists – be it a writer, musical, or visual artist – just aren't allowed by society to enjoy our own work. We're encouraged to dismiss praise and hone in on flaws. They aren't even always flaws that honestly exist, or that would be seen by even a critical observer. Artists make up reasons to hate what they produce, and not only is this 'okay', this is supposed to be the norm. This is especially the case for women who create art; dfab people, trans women, cis women. The world is obsessed with how women see themselves and making sure anyone who is or has ever been perceived as female doesn’t step over the line of ‘acceptable confidence’.
In the event we do admit to liking what we've made, it has to be with flustered hand gestures and a lot of 'well, I guess this isn't so bad.' But the moment someone disagrees, we're expected to jump on that opinion.
“Never mind! It was awful all along!” we are supposed to say. “Do accept my humblest of apologies for thinking there might be value in my work!”
“We’re glad you’ve learned your lesson,” our audience replies.
“Shall I stop pursuing art and try accounting, then?” we ponder.
“No.”
“But I thought what I made wasn’t any good!” We are confused. Befuddled. All manner of synonyms.
“That’s true,” the audience agrees, “but we still want more of it, just in case it gets good.”
The truth of the matter is that we wouldn't produce art if we didn't enjoy both the process AND the end result. Even if we don't love what we've created, we don't call it finished unless there's something about it to like.
Our audiences shouldn't write us off as conceited or not worth their time if we celebrate our creations. They should recognize that we've done the work and are allowing ourselves to step back and join them – we want to connect with you, share our enjoyment with you!
In addition to sharing my thoughts with y’all, I’d also like to play a game. Not with you, although I suppose by virtue of reading this, you’re still a participant. No, I’ve decided I’m going to write one blog post a week and, at the end of each one, write one paragraph of a completely unplanned story. If I wind up getting comments, I’ll probably try integrating prompts into this story, too. Who knows what I’ll come up with.
Let’s get started!
I’ve learned a lot since murdering all my friends. You would think that lesson number one was how lonely it can be without a single familiar smile or willing ear, but nah. Forgone conclusions don’t count towards the lesson plan. No, the very first thing I figured out was that the goddesses who govern our lives, our world, and our everything have zero idea what they’re doing.