That’s not why I write

It is full-on summer at the Clearing. New flowers each day, moose-tracks in the blueberry patch, bunnies, wild turkeys, quail, a fisher cat (or maybe a mink?). A couple of deer. Frogs, pollywogs and cute, fat toads. Madame Snapper made her appearance again on the exact same date as last year (see my entry “A Summer Solstice event at the Clearing”) and found her way from the pond, all the way around back, to the blueberry patch Eric planted (popular spot with the wildlife these days), buried herself almost completely in the dirt, and laid her eggs. The weather has been glorious with lots of sun and fairly civilized temps, mostly not too muggy, but when it is hot, thunderstorms roll through, bringing cool winds and dropping the temperature, almost instantaneously, by 10 degrees or more. We love that feature of New England summer climate! Last evening we sat on the screened-in porch of the red cabin and watched a storm descend, clouds roiling and trees thrashing—breath-taking, and sometimes scary. One night, as we sat on the back porch of the house during a violent storm, a lightning bolt shot down and with a deafening thunder-clap, struck a tree just a short way into the woods. That was all it took to scare little Jimmie and me right off the porch and into the house.

We head back to sunny Southern California for work in just five days. We’ll be there for two months. We can’t believe how fast time flies when we’re having fun. Doing our best to soak in, drink up, breathe every moment we have left in our northern Vermont paradise.

A few weeks ago I attended a writer’s workshop in Burlington, and a couple of us were sharing our blog URLs. One of the attendees, a former newspaper reporter, suddenly erupted, “Why do you people blog? I don’t understand it! You don’t get paid for it! You could be plagiarized! Why would you do that? Why would you waste your time??”

At first, being the being I am, I thought, wow, maybe I’ve been naive; maybe blogging is frivolous. Maybe it is a waste of time. Writing, writing, writing, so all the world (okay, my tiny handful of family and friends) can read it for FREE. Maybe I should be more savvy. More of a business woman. Charge money for my work. Am I really risking having my work stolen?  (Which, of course, would be the ultimate compliment.) It took me a few minutes to realize, wait—that’s not why I write. I write because I love to write. And from what I understand, publishing online means your work is already copyrighted on whatever site it is published, whether it be an online journal, or your own blog. (Although, I still need to “Google that shit” just to be sure—because, as we are all well aware, the Great Google in cyberspace knows all.)

Recently, friends from high school visited us at the Clearing. One of them is an accomplished and talented photographer. I made mention he should try to get a job in the field—get paid for his art. Wouldn’t that be great? Getting paid for what he loves to do? His reply? A resounding NO. The last thing he wants to do is put his creativity under a microscope, himself under terrible deadline pressure. Then, rather than being a joy in his life, picture-taking would become stressful, it would be all about, “Is this good enough? Should I tweak it? Add more contrast, less shadow, antique it? Add highlights? Change the hue? Add a filter? Reduce the blue? More? Less? Lighter? Darker? Crop? Don’t crop? Start all over???” All he has to do now is tweak his photos the way HE likes them. Done! As much as I would not mind getting paid for what I love to do, I get it!

The gal in the workshop—well, she got paid all her life to write, and she is now retired and exploring creative non-fiction. Memoir to be specific. I am guessing her expectation is to eventually be paid. More power to her. I hope she succeeds. I would love to be paid someday for my writing, as well, get paid for what I love to do (be careful what you wish for), but—I’ll say it again—that is not why I write. I write because I can’t not write. Period. In fact, exclamation point! (End of story.)

Images of this gorgeous summer…

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Me, soaking it all up with Eric (not pictured, but, rather, taking the picture) and poodles on a cool summer evening in late June.

9 thoughts on “That’s not why I write”

  1. Patti, I cherish every word you write….your “prose pictures” are truly a gift for all of us to enjoy. Sharing your experiences, joys and opinions brings me even closer to you, even though we are physically many miles away. You can’t put a price on that….and I personally want to thank you for bringing all of us with you to The Clearing. The photographs dovetail so beautifully with your descriptive writings, I feel I am sitting right alongside you, Eric and the poodles. Thank you so much for opening your heart and your home to all of us!

    Reply
  2. You are truly surrounded by beauty up there!
    Loved this segment 🙂
    And, I, too, have asked Bro why he isn’t a professional photographer or photogernalist. I got the same answer. It’s not for him. He wants to enjoy doing what he does, and, he does it well! Love his photographs, and yours. I am glad you both share your work/hobbies, or, how about creations?! Thanks 🙂

    Reply
  3. Photojournalist ^
    Yeah, that looks better LOL

    BTW: this newer setup you have, lets readers sign on to your blog with ease! 😀

    Reply
  4. Maureen – thank you so much for your kind words. Someday you, John and your baby have to make the trek up here for a visit.

    Connie – we ARE surrounded by beauty. You and Jim should come for a visit sometime, too. Thank you for your sweet comments and feedback. Always appreciated!

    Reply
  5. I don’t know why my comment didn’t post, but..

    You caught the story, you caught the mood, you caught the truth.

    Perfect. Simply perfect.

    Reply
  6. Hey, Benj! I had to “approve” the comment for it to post. For now on, your comments should post automatically, since my blog now knows I approve of you!

    Reply
  7. Patti, it was so wonderful to meet and chat with you this week, you and Eric are both so sparkly and beautiful. My husband Dan has never been to New England, so if we make it out there at some point (it will have to be during fall so that he can experience what autumn is supposed to look like haha) it would be great to see you and Eric. The Clearing sounds like a place of magic, peace, and beauty, and I really enjoy reading your posts about life there.

    Please do stay in touch; I’m excited to read your book!

    Reply

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