I figured I'd be too tired to blog tonight. I arrived in Washington at 2:00 this afternoon, got to the Marriott in North Bethesda by 3:00 and was in a caucus meeting by 6:00 PM. It's now a little after 10 PM, I'm back in my room, but not quite ready to sleep yet.
I was cruising Publishers Marketplace when I came across Patry Francis' blog. You have to subscribe to PM in order to access that blog, but you can read her other blog (her other blog????) here. She had a quote I really liked that fit in with a lot of the discussion in the blogsphere this week:
He who works with his hands is a laborer. He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman. He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist.
Patry attributes the quote to St. Francis.
While I like it a lot, I'd rewrite it to read:
He who works with his hands is a laborer. He who works with his hands and his eyes is a craftsman. He who works with his hands and his eyes and his heart is an artist. He who works with his hands, his eyes, his heart and his head is a professional artist.
I've been astounded by the number of people who seem to cling to the title of artist while rejecting the title of professional. These folk seem to believe being a professional will somehow impact their creativity or free expression.
Interestingly enough, none of the published writers I know have a problem with being called a professional.
Go figure.
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1 comment:
I like your rewrite better. I've come across too many people who would consider themselves artists, but who shudder to think their minds have anything to do with art. They just 'feel' their way through their art. You do that as a writer, and good luck getting published. And if you do get published, you better believe your brain was working in there somewhere. ;o)
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