I find myself being very possessive of my writing. Copies of my articles, credited, but not properly, on someone else’s website, disturb me. I struggle with the deep need for credit for my witticisms.
I have never had an editor, which part of me says is a tragic error, since every writer needs an editor. Another part of me says ‘look at the five-star reviews on Amazon.com; look at the personal feedback from real people who rave; it must be good.’
Of course, it’s not about the words, it’s about the ideas. When words contain our ideas, they’re somehow transmuted into children bearing our DNA. Writers, whether of fiction, how-to books, poetry or music, suffer physical pain when the cord is cut.
Except ghost writers. While I’ve met ghost writers who seem to be perfectly normal intelligent people, the idea of selling my words to another is so foreign that I can’t even absorb it, like colloidal silver.
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Of course my main thing is painting, but I remember Seth saying something about putting your ideas out there. That’s what you’re contributing, the message, and the medium. If it’s personal enough to feel possessed, then why share it? Yes, I do get bothered when my work is shown without proper credit, but that’s usually my own lesson on how to put my domain name on the dang picture. If I didn’t set it free, it couldn’t come back to me when a lady in New Jersey is talking to somebody else’s babysitter, who mentions seeing my work online, and then she’s able to “google” me up, call me and buy a piece for her guitar playing husband for their anniversary. Like Hugh says in his book, if you want to copy what he does, go ahead. You’ll just be copying though, and have to live with that. So it’s really about them with that deal. I’m good as long as I listen to my gut and learn from the Universe’s lessons.
Peace.
Posted 14 Oct 2009 at 7:12 am ¶A musician I know named Scott Andrew wrote a blog post entitled “Not Good Enough to Steal?” where he’d been chatting with some band who were peeved ’cause one of their MP3s ended up on some free site.
He asked, “How come only one?”
Posted 14 Oct 2009 at 10:49 am ¶Post a Comment