PS... I will confess I posted my earlier comment after pausing in a panic to try to remember whether I had shared a meandering personal story at Brisbane Writers Festival!!
To my mind, the best book on the relationship between private, social, and public realms - and the need to keep them distinct - is still Hannah Arendt's The Human Condition.
Thanks Matt - I have just ordered that. I will be really keen to see how she distinguishes between private, social and public. It's almost as if now there is zero division between these things!
Charlotte, these words are such a comfort. I stopped posting on social media after the Voice campaign last year and have stayed mostly silent - mostly blissfully happily, but occasionally with pangs of panic because writers (even those of us who aren't writing much right now) are told constantly that they must cultivate social media followings. But I'd found that regular posting made me anxious; I hated the feeling of treating my life like a natural resource from which I had to harvest - relentlessly - the best and most special things to take to market. A strip-mining of the soul, or so it seems. Eventually, there is nothing left; we have plucked each seed of a thought before it has had a chance to grow into anything much at all. Reading what you have written here has helped confirm in my own head how destructive this is to a creative life - so thank you!
I adore this. I'm currently sitting with the tension of self expression Vs self silencing/editing and loads of what you've written here resonates in that vein.
P.S. I'm currently reading The Luminous Solution and it is a balm. I love it so much.
So glad it was interesting to you Ruth. And thank you very much about TLS (I like that acronym, lol) - am always delighted when it speaks to practising artists.
PS... I will confess I posted my earlier comment after pausing in a panic to try to remember whether I had shared a meandering personal story at Brisbane Writers Festival!!
HAHA well if you did Christine, I have no recollection of it! I don't think so. But I would welcome yours, lol.
This hit home! Great essay Charlotte, inspiring as ever, thank you.
So glad it resonated Kellie. Warm wishes to you. XC
To my mind, the best book on the relationship between private, social, and public realms - and the need to keep them distinct - is still Hannah Arendt's The Human Condition.
Thanks Matt - I have just ordered that. I will be really keen to see how she distinguishes between private, social and public. It's almost as if now there is zero division between these things!
Nail on head. As always, dear Charlotte xxx
Thank you Ms K - xx
Charlotte, these words are such a comfort. I stopped posting on social media after the Voice campaign last year and have stayed mostly silent - mostly blissfully happily, but occasionally with pangs of panic because writers (even those of us who aren't writing much right now) are told constantly that they must cultivate social media followings. But I'd found that regular posting made me anxious; I hated the feeling of treating my life like a natural resource from which I had to harvest - relentlessly - the best and most special things to take to market. A strip-mining of the soul, or so it seems. Eventually, there is nothing left; we have plucked each seed of a thought before it has had a chance to grow into anything much at all. Reading what you have written here has helped confirm in my own head how destructive this is to a creative life - so thank you!
I adore this. I'm currently sitting with the tension of self expression Vs self silencing/editing and loads of what you've written here resonates in that vein.
P.S. I'm currently reading The Luminous Solution and it is a balm. I love it so much.
So glad it was interesting to you Ruth. And thank you very much about TLS (I like that acronym, lol) - am always delighted when it speaks to practising artists.