I saw the below video showing “wheel gymnastics” and, other than being mesmerized, I thought it an apt metaphor for the writing life. Do you agree? Read and watch and see what it evokes.
A writer spends hours, months, and even years in isolation practicing their art. They go forward a few steps and back a few steps. They get turned upside down and spin often without result. While there is length to the journey it doesn’t always seem to be going anywhere.
Eventually their craft improves to the point that it can be taken into the marketplace. There it can become an expression of their very soul. The artist pours everything they have into that event.
And despite the years of work, all the audience cares about is whether or not the performer sticks the dismount.
Seems a bit depressing when expressed like that. But, in some ways, that is the life of the artist…the writer, the painter, the dancer, the musician. You didn’t get into it because you knew you’d be a bazillionaire. You are an artist because it is a part of who you are. And in that there is beauty. In that there is meaning. In that there is praise for our Creator. In that moment your reader is taken to a place where they have never traveled before. Even if for just a moment. A new thought. A new tear. A new set of goosebumps.
I have watched my daughters perform as musicians and dancers nearly their whole lives. I have seen the hours of practice, the sacrifice, the pain, and the frustration behind the scenes. But I also have been privileged to see the inexpressible joy well from within them as they create beauty.
Therefore, while you may toil away at your desk feeling like you are on the gerbil wheel of the writing life. In actuality, after today, you are one step closer to making something great.
Now. Enjoy watching art in action.
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I agree that’s a perfect metaphor.
I have long held that “many called, few chosen”, alludes to this very idea. Its easy to be called, another thing to qualify for selection – ask a Marine or a University Student. Persistence matters to God. It refines us and slowly draws opportunity and preparation to an intersection. It is so tough, lonely and despairing to keep going that the bible uses the desert as a metaphor for such journeys – because deserts have no obvious end or beginning, rarely have defined tracks or pathways, oft present the mirage of false hope and generally offer scant refuge for our souls. Yet, the likes of Moses, the first great writer, David, the great romantic writer and Paul, the great letter writer, all emerged from such wastelands – to shake their worlds and worlds yet to come. So God calls many, but few respond, fewer persist and potentially only one or two reach the pinnacles of destiny that ultimately set extraordinary souls apart from the background. In the process, God uses pile drivers to set truth so deeply in their hearts and minds, that they will walk past those who would cast them off cliffs or crown them – for by then they will not only be relevant, but immoveable.
Beautifully put, Peter.
The writer’s life does feel like being on a gerbil wheel sometimes. I like the hope you offer: as we continue to work our craft, we move closer to creating something great. Anything worth doing takes lots of work.
The video is fascinating! Thanks for sharing it.
Not only do I feel like a gerbil on the wheel, I feel like there are gerbils in my head…
Amazing freedom within the confines of limitation. And the power source of momentum – beautiful. Yes, a writer’s life.
Great analogy! Nailed it.
Magnificent.
That’s a perfect analogy, Steve. I especially loved this section:
You are an artist because it is a part of who you are. And in that there is beauty. In that there is meaning. In that there is praise for our Creator. In that moment your reader is taken to a place where they have never traveled before.
I’ve always known I’m “creative,” but always reserved the term”artist” for those who work in “the arts.” Thanks for the insight. (I’m assuming this applies to writers of nonfiction, too.) Now I can stop being sorry I don’t have time to go try my hand at painting or working with clay because, well, I need to write.
Lenore,
Non-fiction writing is absolutely part of the “arts.” Annie Dillard, for example, paints beautiful pictures with her words. See her book Pilgrim at Tinker Creek for example.
The common definition of the arts is seen as painting, dance, stage, music and writing.
But there is also the Culinary arts! Sculpting. Glassblowing. Architecture…. If you start looking for it, art is everywhere. The creative expression of an idea.
Steve
Perfect. LOL. Hamsters. Ours sons had the crazy little critters. My husband thought they were cute and having a great time in their running wheels. HA! They were infinitely trying to escape—I told him. Ruined the whole thing for him but it was the truth. He saw it first hand when our son left the top of the cage ajar and the little rodent crawled across his neck in the middle of the night.
Just like you said…you practice for years on end and then in one spark of time you perform a song, sell a painting, do a routine and…publish a book. And then work on the next as the wheel goes round.
From the perspective of a piano teacher and musician it is all about the practice, practice and more practice. There is frustration, failure, break through and unexplained joy in the process. I finally stepped into the intimidating waters of my writing dream at age 60. I have been reassuring myself that the process is more important than the glory because it changes and hones me to be a better person. Most journeys to birth an artistic creation take sweat, some tears and a lot of frustration. The good news about the gerbil wheel is that it burns calories!
I am with you Mary. But another thing I learned in my art journey was that the greats in the art world blossomed at about age 60. And there are late bloomers. (<; We have a lot to share!
Great analogy! And it makes me want to work on that ‘gerbil wheel’ to continue to improve. Thanks for sharing, Steve.
The greats in the bible world also tended to blossom late. To the analogy of a pianist, Padarewski invited a little girl onto stage. She asked him how he got to be so good. He replied, “if you practice 8 hours every day for 20 years, you can also be good”.
Thanks for such a great illustration of being an artist. I love how you said, “You are an artist because it is a part of who you are.” I remember being a different kind of artist–an actress–a long time ago, and my singular philosophy was to escape into the life of another. However, those who out-shined me on stage, were the more-seasoned actors who had refined the craft of acting and applied it to who they were on the inside. They allowed real emotion to pour out in their performance of a portrayed character. That authentic “outpour” was only attainable by working hard and gaining experience (in artistry and in life).
Isn’t it so true for this writing journey also? You can conjure up a story, but the effort it takes to express it, refine it, and breathe true life into it– THAT is what really makes it great…no matter how round and round you go!
The gerbil wheel has its dark side: the rat race or rat trap. Its good to pursue something relentlessly, but mindless to do so to the point of pointless. We can become a slave to our own doggedness and take God right out of it all, doing it because that’s what we have always done. That puts dreams on life support. The truth is that if the dream was planted by God at all, we need to let it realize itself, just as a mother learns to do from the moment her 9 month journey to parenthood ends. A dream on life support can veer a bit close to the willfulness of a child trying to have its own way. Sometimes we need to lay things down so God can do the greater work. Abraham clung to his dream until God told him to lay it down, but in so doing he traded his rather hopeless, fading dream for a very enduring one. As such, being published may not be the end zone for every venture into writing and God could use the lessons learnt along the way in a very different way – if we let Him.
Two words kept repeating themselves in my mind as I watched that video. Discipline and practice.
Great motivation today, thank you!
This is exquisite, Steve. I am struck by the beauty of discipline and art, and the years of mastery (and failure) required by all those who eventually reach this level. For writers, it’s not “hit or miss.” It’s years of study, discipline, correction, prayer, and rededication to God’s call on our life.
Steve -yes.
My mother was a dancer (the Rockettes). She dazzled. I admired. She informed … it was cramped (dressing rooms), dusty (rehearsal halls), exhausting, relentless, sweaty. The performance moment? Hotter (the lights), sweaty again, exacting, stretch on a smile and keep it there for the audience. Exit. Catch your breath. Shower & change. Do it again. The glamorous life! Did I still want it? Well of course.
Not sure why this blog post from 20 days ago was emailed to everyone on this Sunday morning. I was just told about it.
I apologize.
Steve
I was wondering if something had happened to the space-time continuum and you people in North America had suddenly caught up to those of us down-under (I rather like living in the future, so wasn’t keen on this).
A book on who we are as creatives that influenced me a great deal was “Mind of the Maker” by Dorothy Sayers. After a couple decades of writing non-fiction it got me to go out and try my hand at fiction. I know that kind of thing can drive agents nuts, but I believe my non-fiction writing has benefitted from the study of fiction. Now I write what I believe is called “creative non-fiction”.
We are made in the image of a Creator — it’s no wonder we just have to do it. (Must go practice instrument now… have used this creative moment to shirk my duties to the local, creative sinfonia.)
Beautiful video. Spot on analogy. Thanks for sharing.