Emails In The Front Row

Been blown away by some of the emails I've received recently. Really makes me realise how lucky I am to have such wonderful readers; that's all I've ever wanted here -- to connect with people, to share a view of art in the world. 

Kid-

I am a big fan of your blog.  I am someone who has known that I am a writer since I was nine years old, but has spent the last 30+ years denying that's what I am, trying to fit in as everything but.  Somehow I expect you to understand that, although not many people do.  At any rate, after a prolonged dark night of the soul, I have chosen to be who I am, and write, because it's the only thing I know I'm good at, the only thing I truly feel good doing.

None of this was inspired by you.  However, once I decided to stop my life dead in its tracks and change directions, the first thing I did is start a blog:  www.thunderstrokes.com.  Shortly after starting my blog, I found yours.  Since the moment I first read it, your blog has inspired me both as a blogger and as someone who's trying to figure out how to live a creative life, after so many years spent ignoring my gifts. Your advice has been second only the best advice I have ever received, and that was from F. Scott Fitzgerald, who once recommended that writers "give the best part of their day to their writing." For me that meant getting up early, before the day had a chance to beat me down again, and I lost confidence in my abilities.

I feel compelled to let you know how much your writing means to me.  You are a fantastic writer, and a gifted voice.  I don't know who you are really, and I don't know that it really matters.  You speak with clarity and truth about writing in a way which encourages and challenges me to become a better, and more honest, writer.  I'm sure that's true for many, many people beyond myself. You deserve to know that.

Whether you check out anything I've written or not, I just wanted to make sure you knew how important what you're doing is to someone like me.  

And to tell you once again, thanks for being there.

Kevin Thorson

Hi Kid,

I just wanted to drop you a quick email to say how much I've enjoyed catching up tonight on the blog posts you published this week. I feel bad that you haven't got as many comments on them as I feel you should have but perhaps there are other people out there typing emails to you rather than putting comments directly under the posts; I hope so.

For me it has been one of those weeks where the universe seems hell bent against me and yet I'm still persevering and certainly today has been pretty rewarding creatively. 

I guess I just wanted to let you know that I read your posts whenever I get a minute to myself and that I do get a lot out of them. Thanks for putting them out there.

All the best,

Abbey

Dear Kid,

In the process of creating

More often than not

We seek validation

That we are worth

What comes out of what we create

Kid,

You taught me

The one person that needs to validate my work

Is myself

And only when that happens

Can we reach out and touch people's hearts

In places so deep

So within

You write for yourself

That's why others read it

Keep doing it

Because it reminds others to keep on keepin'

In gratitude,

Val 

Care to share?

Tweet

Dialogue

BERT
Your dialogue is not very believable.

SARA
In my script?

BERT
When you speak.

SARA
It's not believable?

BERT
You are asking too many questions, which is not believable.

SARA
Why not?

BERT
See, I didn't believe a word of that.

SARA
You've been reading scripts for far too long.

BERT
You should be more natural.

SARA
Every word that comes out of my mouth you think is unnatural.

BERT
The way you said unnatural was actually very natural.

SARA
Since when were you an expert on how to speak?

BERT
Again, with the questions. Your dialogue is terrible and completely unrealistic.

SARA
How can the way I speak be realistic or unrealistic?

BERT
You are being confusing and nothing you're saying is helpful to the plot.

SARA
You are truly bizarre and I have to say; the only thing I know about the plot -- is that you've lost it.

Care to share?

Tweet

The Void

"Sometimes I wonder about my life. I lead a small life. Well, valuable, but small. And sometimes I wonder, do I do it because I like it, or because I haven't been brave? So much of what I see reminds me of something I read in a book, when shouldn't it be the other way around? I don't really want an answer. I just want to send this cosmic question out into the void. So goodnight, dear void."

-Kathleen Kelly, in 'You've Got Mail' 

Care to share?

Tweet

Please Answer

What song gets you out of a bad mood?

What song captures how you feel when you're down?

What song captures what life is all about?

Which song feels like it was written by you?

What song reminds you of someone you've not seen in a long time?

Care to share?

Tweet

Etta James

She died and I'm not going to claim I was a big fan, but wow, her voice was something. How often does a voice like that come along? And even when a talent like that does comes along, how many have the discipline and self-belief to follow through?

Michael Jackson's impact was obvious, it reverberated throughout the entire world. Yet someone like Etta James gets into you differently. She turned up on compilation discs and your old lover's mix tapes. You found her in your parent's Vinyl collections. 'At Last' described love coming along after waiting forever, in a way so few other songs ever did.

And that's her legacy. The voice, the songs; the famous ones and whatever our personal favourites might be.

Etta probably hasn't crossed my mind at all in recent years, but what a beautiful thing that, hours after her death, I can be walking through the streets of London, profoundly moved by what I'm hearing through my headphones.

I've not found much meaning to life. It all seems so random -- we can only hold on to loved ones and our memories. But It's made all the more sweeter by these angels who turn up out of nowhere and leave a film or a song that burns into our consciousness and stays there for the rest of our lives.

Don't you think it's magic when that happens? Etta James is, we are told, gone. And sure, if you believe in the religious stuff, she might be floating on a cloud some place, catching up with Elvis. Instead of all that, we can see, she is more alive than ever before - all across the world - as people reach for old records, hunt her down on YouTube and stream her rarities on Spotify.

I can't get enough of this voice. It's only when they die that we truly focus on who they were -- just like in ordinary life. Something sad about that but, in the end, it gives some meaning to all of this insanity.

Her death is sad, but, to briefly evaluate; the fact she lived at all has made my life better.

And that's why the artists are important. That's why you'll pick up a pen or a guitar or a paintbrush tonight and tomorrow and the day after that. The only thing that lasts is what we leave. 

Care to share?

Tweet