Risk the Reward
Mar 1, 2009 sojourn
What a whirlwind 24 hours… the culmination of planning a workshop, then both witnessing and reaping the fruit of hanging out and learning from seasoned veteran artist and songwriter Craig Bickhardt. Going out on Friday nights is always tough for me, with work and my desire to just degauss at home. But once I get to the venue, relax and enjoy the show, I realize every step of this mini-journey is so worthwhile, and this past Friday night was a great precursor to the next day’s workshop.
Saturday morning it’s an early rise and get to the Well to setup and greet our workshop attendees and presenter. The day goes off without a hitch, the interaction very much in tune with expectations for our time with Craig. Our NSAI chapter is so dynamic; we had a couple of brand new faces and some recently signed members in attendance, all willing and enthusiastic participants. And Susan, our hostess at The Well serves the group like family… just can’t thank her and The Well enough.
No punches pulled in the accounts Craig shared of both success and rejection, perspectives on the current and future states of the music industry, especially as it pertains to the songwriter. But even with the less that “hopeful” picture, I think we all left encouraged to press on with our respective art and raising the bar for the work we produce.
There were many nuggets of wisdom shared. Craig’s views on creativity always stir introspection. He told a story of two groups of children being asked to draw pictures, one was offered candy for doing so, the other just asked to draw. The drawings from group that got the candy were not very creative at all, the focus was on the reward, not the potential art. The group that created without the objective of being “compensated” for their effort produced thoughtful and inspired works of art.
What’s the point?
To me, and I think we as writers know this, there’s risk in being a writer. It takes time, often significant amounts of time. Time away from family, sacrificing sleep, and time away from our comfort zones. It takes guts, and money, and shattered hope through rejection, and the fear of sharing that first draft or forgetting the words or melody, on and on… there is risk in being an artist.
What about the reward for taking such risks? Truth is, there is no realistic promise or guarantee of tangible reward. But the heart of what I got out of this segment is the need to do a gut check on my motivation for creativity. I need to expose the nagging slack in my discipline and slay it by making time away from being tethered to the Internet, closing the door to my studio and being willing to sit in silence as my mind and being dive into a character, scene or feeling that might end up in a song, story, or other form of art.
We didn’t spend much time on tools like literary devices, but Craig made what I perceived as a pretty profound perspective regarding imagery… that is, to use imagery to reveal and expand upon a character, motivation, and/or emotion. This is where taking time in quiet is key to “seeing” what I’m writing about.
Though quite tired and drained, I drove home Saturday afternoon through heavy rain inspired to press on as an artist/writer, re-committed to the understanding that being true to my own art means embracing risk and putting forth effort to produce the ultimate reward — art itelf.
Tags: bickhardt, Evening Muse, NSAI, songwriting