Two Poems, Two Pictures

1 Hope's Portrait

And Ago

The house at the edge
Of the world is empty now,
But once it held love;
It was a place of mirrors
Constructed of other’s eyes,
Wide open, truth-telling, real,
Unlike glass speaking vain lies.

All were happy there
Loneliness was destroyed
By companionship,
But no structure, human-made,
Can prevent time’s erosion
Working to comport bodies
Ever, always, toward death.

So now the shadow,
Ghoulish, unburied, dim blight
Lies uneasily
Over the house at the edge
Of yesterday, tomorrow,
And we must glean from today
Enough love to inspire life.

2 Time Out

Is It Enough?

It is easy to
Get along if you play
To the popular crowd,
But if you are creative,
Original, one of your kind,
You may find yourself living
A separate, distinct,
Isolated existence
On society’s edges,
Where you may just discover
Those who love you are enough.

I hesitated to bring only poems and pictures here. I wanted to do something inspiring, but coming up with articles is not always natural for me. More than anything I am a poet. So excuse me.

As a prompt try to capture an overwhelming feeling in something you create, whatever that may be.

I am so glad you took the time to visit Haphazard Creative, and I hope you will either click the follow button or come back again. I will try to be more productive and share more often. Have a great one and do take care out there.

As ever grateful,
Jo Ann

Social media is not social

Alright, you read that, and you think I am some strange bird going against the culture, but give me a chance. This involves your life as a creative.

Though it began earlier, the internet, as we know it, came into being as the World Wide Web in the early nineties, I was there. I had AOL, Compuserve, and MSN which gave the WYSIWYG interface. Those services were not free, they were subscription services at least for full functionality. A variety of browsers developed, and content grew on the internet outside the services. A lot of that material was free, but you were at least paying your internet service/telephone company or cable provider to get on the web.

Many sites put up paywalls, and there were fees to get in. Pop-ups became a hassle, trying to get you to buy stuff. Growth continued, giants sprang up almost out of nowhere, and they dominated the web. Cellphones became ubiquitous so that everyone had a computer in their hand or pocket everywhere they went. The cost to get on the internet from the telecoms went up and up, but we, the consumers paid because we wanted to be connected. Social media had become an integral part of our lives.

All of it, from the beginning, has been a way to get consumers to spend more. If they can catch us, while we sit at home in pajamas, and convince us to buy any of a billion products there, they have us and our dollars. Or maybe we are in a physical store, and we see something we like, we look it up on that mini-computer we have with us at all times, find a better price and order it right there in the store, where by buying we would have helped someone we interacted with in real life. The services, subscriptions, providers all are money driven. The internet is not free, it is what is driving businesses in the real world to fail.

Then we have social media; the blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, LinkIn, and others. One, they are collecting and aggregating our information. Two, they are targeting us with fees and advertising insistently. Yes, we communicate, but we are always bombarded with the ask for our money.

The sad thing is that we are more and more becoming driven by devices and growing less active in life with humans outside a screen. We hardly even make phone calls anymore, we text, we message, impersonal and limited interaction. Conversation, face to face, is becoming a lost art.

I have attempted to build a platform to build a reputation as a writer, artist, creative, but it is getting unsustainable with no income from the endeavors and a constant call to spend more. I create because I have to, not to pay someone else for the privilege. We, creatives need to find a way to change the dynamic. We give freely, they should pay us for the hosting. Never happen, but anyway.

This is why I say it is not social, social media is all about money, our money, we have fed this monster until it has almost consumed us and our lives.

As a prompt, create something, writing, art, photograph, that defies the boundaries of the internet. However, you probably want to share it on the web, because how else would anyone see it, we are bound to the internet, obedient slaves.

I hope you enjoyed your time here. I cannot say I do not love the internet, it just worries me. I hope you will either come back or click the follow button. Your thoughts are always welcome in the comments. Wherever you are, take care and be safe.

The secret of sales

The title may not sound like it involves creativity, but as I stated elsewhere, creativity is a part of all we do. Also, I am going to relate it to your creative products so please continue.

This is not from a book, though I read many books, this is out of my head and my experience, as is everything I post here.

If you have created something, you put your heart and soul into, make sure you value it. Look at it, touch it, get to know it, not just as the creator, but someone who appreciates it as something beautiful, something of worth. Fall in love with that thing, but not so much you cannot part with it if you are selling it.

Present it in the very best way possible, let your love for the object guide you, or if it is writing, do what you can to accent the text in ways that will make a person want it. With a textual description make it as inviting as if you were there talking to the buyer. If you are selling, your love and enthusiasm are what will invite someone to take it. They will want your experience, your feelings, your passion.

If you are selling person to person, it is also essential that you take time to make yourself most presentable, because as much as you are selling love for the object, you are making an impression as someone to score it from. The more they value you, the more they will be willing to pay.

Then there is the person to whom you are potentially selling, you must at that time make them the most important person in your world. You have to love them, not like romantically, just love that flows out positively.

If you are not personally involved with the object and the person it will come across that this is just another thing and they are just a stranger you have to talk to today.

I could go on with this, but this should prime your brain. Sales are not hard, you just have to involve your heart in the game.

For a prompt describe something you have created with enough love that someone would go out of their way to buy it from you.

I hope you have enjoyed your visit here. I certainly appreciate you reading. There is a follow button, or you may come back. Sorry, I have been a while getting up a post, sometimes life intervenes. Take care and be safe.

The case for argument

It has been said that all written communication is an argument, meaning whatever we write is intended to convince or convict those who read it. This could apply to all communication, everything created to present an artist’s vision.

In my view, those who submit their ideas through words are artists just as are those who use diverse media. All are creating, bringing something unique to the world out of the well of themselves.

If we are to argue, it is my opinion that we should do it through our own creation and not take someone else’s work to make our stand. This is not to say we should not own items created by others that we enjoy, but that when we want to engage in presentation and conversation that holds our opinions and beliefs, we should state them with originality. Granted one may study a subject and become well educated about an issue that their perspective is more enlightened and engaging, but the work is far more persuasive when stated by the individual owning the creation.

Conversation among people becomes less appealing if one is always looking to Google on their phone for the basis of their talk. The same is true when discussing an issue in writing or artistic expression. We are the sum total of our lives and the lives of those who have influenced us. Our thoughts, feelings, opinions, ideas, creations, are worthy of presentation in the world. We should stand for ourselves. I am not discounting research, nor collaborating opinion, but when we present reasoning or refute a viewpoint, our thoughts and ideas should be the basis of our argument.

What do you think? Are you more willing to engage with someone who speaks for themselves rather than using material gathered from wherever on the internet? I would love to know your insights on the issue.

As a prompt, pick an issue you feel invested in and create a work arguing your side of the story.

Thank you for visiting Haphazard Creative. There is a follow button should you wish to use it. In any case, I hope you will return. In all you do, believe, have, create, be you. Take care and be safe.

Creative block

Creative block is sometimes experienced, and at these times, often hard to overcome. It can postpone productive work for long periods. There are ways to avoid it. These may not be clear in the midst of the experience, but perhaps some preparation will assist.

There are times when time is set aside for creation, and it gets postponed or interrupted by some of life’s happenings and emergencies. Other times procrastination sets in. These things arise inevitably. Such is the beginning of a habit that becomes ingrained. An hour is put off because of some urgent event, then a day, then a week, then months pass. This cycle must be stopped early. The voluntary action it begins with becomes a mental habit that is hard to defeat.

Whenever there is an urge to work creatively, it should be heeded as soon as is possible to arrange. If some time has passed and avoidance is an entrenched mental habit the only way to break out is to face the blank page, canvas, surface, media and stay with it until work begins. This takes patience and dedication because there will be resistance. The mind, the hands, the body will try to escape, the impulse to leave and do something other will be overwhelming, but to become a functioning creative again there must be a beginning, a will to bring something new into the world. At this point, the output may not be desirable, but with renewed practice, expertise will return.

It is the mind that creates the roadblocks after it is encouraged by poor time management and prioritization. Creative time must be guarded and planned just as appointments and events, though there should always be leeway for spontaneous creation. Sometimes it is a matter of not wanting to work because of discomfort with the product or simple resistance. When these problems present, getting busy despite the critical inner voice is necessary.

Block can be overcome, it can be disarmed and sent packing, but it takes an act of will and determination to go on without compromise. Nothing great is ever created without putting in the time with the tools. It is unavoidable.

Maybe this will help with the struggle. The monster is real, but it is usually of the creative’s making. What is in mind cannot be realized without hours of dedication to working.

As a prompt, look around the current environment and select an item, tell its story, either in truth or make up a tale. If an artist, tell the story in some medium.

Thank you for visiting Haphazard Creative. There is a follow button, or come back often. I know a bit about the beast under discussion. Should there be questions or thoughts, please leave a comment or fill out the contact form. Take care and be safe.