Surprisingly, my career as a tattoo artist uniquely prepared me to become a writer in many ways. I didn’t see it working out that way, but over the years—as I’ve learned more about writing, it’s become increasingly clear.
Love this so much. I’ve been trying to put “you have to know the rules to break them” in to practice, but a good idea grabs hold of my brain and I want to put that on paper…then it doesn’t come out right.
I know your advice of “just trace it” doesn’t mean don’t try freehanding at all. In learning to play the classical guitar, the only thing that keeps me sane between doing scales is learning a few bars of an insanely hard song that I’m obsessed with (like Asturias) and I’ll find that it gets better as I do more and more of the boring scales. The few bars I know stop sounding like I’m just playing notes from memory and I’m making it my own! Hopefully I can get there with writing…someday.
Yes, there’s always room for playing around. We need to give our brains a break from the rigors of structure, but I truly feel that if you want to move forward, nothing quite works like putting yourself aside and copying.
You got this, you’re doing great!
Also, love that you are learning classical guitar! I think learning a musical instrument helps the mind and soul in so many ways.
I’ll think as a wind-down activity, each night I’ll pull out a favourite short story and break them down to their building blocks! I already know it’s going to be some Robert Bloch, Asimov and Bradbury to start with!!
But god I love my guitar - it’s simple Yamaha C40 that I got for myself as a present two years ago. I used to sing and play the violin but in Indian classical music (Carnatic music), but the violin and vocals was just not the right fit for me. The guitar definitely is
I didn’t realize this was a thing… I’ve been writing the works of others in journals for years, and you’re correct - every word verbatim, every comma, etc. Tattooing is something I could never do, even as an artist. I applaud your resilience 🙌
I absolutely understand what you mean. I have a degree in graphic design and I'm aways amazed at how easily those rules translate to writing. Gestalt principle where parts come together to make a whole. Repetition is exactly how it's applied in art as in writing. Also keeping design clean and simple is much like remembering our horses. Knowing when enough is enough and not too much and on and on.
Love this so much. I’ve been trying to put “you have to know the rules to break them” in to practice, but a good idea grabs hold of my brain and I want to put that on paper…then it doesn’t come out right.
I know your advice of “just trace it” doesn’t mean don’t try freehanding at all. In learning to play the classical guitar, the only thing that keeps me sane between doing scales is learning a few bars of an insanely hard song that I’m obsessed with (like Asturias) and I’ll find that it gets better as I do more and more of the boring scales. The few bars I know stop sounding like I’m just playing notes from memory and I’m making it my own! Hopefully I can get there with writing…someday.
Yes, there’s always room for playing around. We need to give our brains a break from the rigors of structure, but I truly feel that if you want to move forward, nothing quite works like putting yourself aside and copying.
You got this, you’re doing great!
Also, love that you are learning classical guitar! I think learning a musical instrument helps the mind and soul in so many ways.
I’ll think as a wind-down activity, each night I’ll pull out a favourite short story and break them down to their building blocks! I already know it’s going to be some Robert Bloch, Asimov and Bradbury to start with!!
But god I love my guitar - it’s simple Yamaha C40 that I got for myself as a present two years ago. I used to sing and play the violin but in Indian classical music (Carnatic music), but the violin and vocals was just not the right fit for me. The guitar definitely is
"Paint the fence." ~ Mr. Miyagi
Cool post!
Thanks Anthony! It was a fun one to write.
I didn’t realize this was a thing… I’ve been writing the works of others in journals for years, and you’re correct - every word verbatim, every comma, etc. Tattooing is something I could never do, even as an artist. I applaud your resilience 🙌
I absolutely understand what you mean. I have a degree in graphic design and I'm aways amazed at how easily those rules translate to writing. Gestalt principle where parts come together to make a whole. Repetition is exactly how it's applied in art as in writing. Also keeping design clean and simple is much like remembering our horses. Knowing when enough is enough and not too much and on and on.