« 032: The Rites of Spring | Main | 034: Show, No Telling » March 28, 2003

033: "Bitch, you know I love you. Why do you make me beat you?"

I've known the members of my writer's group for more than ten years now and they never tire of strapping me down and flaying me. Nor do I ever appear to grow weary of the visit to the chambers of the Inquisition. It seems to work pretty well for both sides. Last night -- mid-stroke -- there was a pause, and then the following apology: "I'm sorry. We're spending more time breaking things than we are fixing them."

They keep me honest.

Sculptors don't create their work so much as reveal the object hiding within the block of marbles. They break away the outer layers, freeing the contained subject. If we spend our time "breaking things," then it is because I've handed them a block of stone which hasn't been polished enough. There are too many unfinished knobs of marble that need to be knocked off or sanded down. There isn't enough detail in the body of the work. There is too subtle a line to the slope of the back. I've neglected to consider what you will see if you view the piece from a different angle.

I'd given them a cube of stone with two corners knocked off and tried to pass it off as something more concrete than an abstract idea.

Trust me, this will get you kicked in the teeth. And, while it may look painful and brutal to an outsider, you have to know that the only reason they lay into you so heavily is because you've been lazy and haven't done good work. They're frustrated because you haven't knocked the wind out of them, and they know you can.

So who are you saving the good stuff for? Do you think people who don't know you at all are going to be any less savage?

Your friends will never touch your fingers. Sure, you may have to tape your ribs and you might pee blood for a couple of days, but they'll always send you home with your fingers intact. Can't write with busted digits, can you? And that's the sure sign that they still care.

Posted by Teppo at March 28, 2003 01:35 PM

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