Obsession
Thursday, November 1, 2007
“If you aren’t obsessive,” writes Hanif Kureishi in HOW I WRITE, “you can’t be an artist, however imaginative you might be.”
Read that at 4:18 this morning and thought, okay, well, okay, feeling just a little better now. Because they called me obsessive in college, when I pinned all the poems I’d been writing to the wall above my bed. And they called me that wherever I went to work, as in, Give it to Beth, she’ll get it done, she’s obsessive. And (equally), Did you ever learn the word, relax?
No one used the word when I was a kid, filling black book after black book with poems (watercoloring the pages swirly colors first, so as to establish mood). Maybe they thought it, but nobody said it.
So maybe I read too hard (and still come up short for answers). So maybe I write too much (and have yet to write the perfect book). So maybe you find me talking to somebody and half of the time, we're talking about stories and words. I'm still not half the artist I want to be, but I'm drawing the conclusion right here, right now that being obsessive has its perks.
PS: Congratulations to Kristina (http://kristinasfavorites.blogspot.com/), who has won a copy of UNDERCOVER via a competition held by Em's Bookshelf (http://emsbookshelf.blogspot.com/). Thanks for all those who showed an interest!
6 comments:
Thank you so much Beth!! I look forward to receiving it!!!
You are most welcome.
b
What’s the difference between being passionate and being obsessive? That’s what I asked myself after reading this. If being obsessive (passionate?) is a pre-requisite for being an artist, well, ahhhh, what a relief..... Also, it is the law of life that one quality has two opposite sides to it, and obsessive is too often linked with compulsive and disorder, so this was a great angle. Wanting to read the whole of Kureshi’s text, I looked up the title “How I Write” on Amazon, but couldn’t find it. Any idea? And by the way - I am visiting this blog spot after listening to your interview with Barbara Demarco-Barrett (podcast), which I absolutely adored! Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I am about to order some of your books now, but cannot decide as to which ones to choose....
Good morning, Grete —
I found the wonderful bit quoted here in an anthology of writer's voices titled, in full, HOW I WRITE: THE SECRET LIVES OF AUTHORS, edited by Dan Crowe. Some of the entries are more interesting than others; this one resonated most closely with me.
Passion...Obsession: It is indeed a thin line. In the end, we have the responsibility of channeling our energies toward a good, I think. But sometimes you need, or I need, license to be just who you are (I am).
I'm amazed to discover that I am on a podcast somewhere, but I fondly remember Barbara. A tremendous interviewer and a very fine writer herself.
Thank you for taking the effort to find me. I am amazed, always, by the neural networking made possible by this viral world.
Hi again, Beth -
Thanks for info on Kureshi. And also yes, yes, yes - and thanks - for this line: In the end, we have the responsibility of channeling our energies toward a good. That was a gift. Right now these words are much needed and appreciated.....
Just to give you a further thrill on the podcast issue. I am a Norwegian, living in Oslo. So there you are, your voice reached me all across the globe. Yes, the virtual world is really amazing.....
Grete:
I am stunned. Norwegian! Hello from me to you, across the globe.
I can't even imagine how you discovered a podcast, or when a podcast was made, or how it was distributed, but: I grow to trust, more and more, the power of the serendipitous.
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