Essay on being a true artist/writer? (1 Viewer)

[MenacingTourist]

A friend of mine gave me a print out of about a page or so long where Buk talks about being really commited to writing (I related it to being an artist). He basically described a litmus test to see if you really have "it" or not. Things like the desire to create burns in your belly, etc.

I've moved and not only lost contact with my friend but lost the copy of this great gem.

Is this ringing any bells? I guess the long answer is to just start reading the books and I'll find it eventually :)

Thanks for any help you can give,

Alan.

 

[MenacingTourist]

I tried Google three times and on the third time I got it.

If anyone is interested it's from sifting through the madness for the Word, the line, the way and is called so you want to be a writer

Here's the link: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/16549

 

[poptop]

air and light and time...

Bukowski wrote often on the subject of writing and the
the ones he felt should be doing it. Another example:

air and light and time...

"you know, I've either had a family, a job, something
has always been in the
way
but now
I've sold my house, I've found this
place, a large studio, you should see the space and
the light.
for the first time in my life I'm going to have a place and the time to
create."

no baby, if you're going to create
you're going to create whether you work
16 hours a day in a coal mine
or
you're going to create in a small room with 3 children
while you're on welfare,
you're going to create with part of your mind and your
body blown
away, you're going to create blind
crippled
demented,
you're going to create with a cat crawling up your
back while
the whole city trembles in earthquake, bombardment,
flood and fire.

baby, air and light and time and space
have nothing to do with it
and don't create anything
except maybe a longer life to find
new excuses
for.