Yesterday, two journalists from the local newspaper came by to interview me about a concert I’m doing next weekend. When they left, I thought of all the things I wished I’d said and all the things I wished I’d said better. One of the questions Jillian asked was, “What do you want from this CD?” I’m not sure how I answered her, but later I thought: I want people to hear it and I want them to like it.
But if I’m honest with myself, not only do I want them to like it, I want to hear about it. If they’re like me, though, they won’t listen right away. They’ll listen when they have time or when it feels right, which may be weeks or even months from now. By then, I’ll have moved on. The songs will no longer be the only thing on my mind. My excitement will have worn off. I won’t be as needy by then. And that’s a good thing.
After Jillian and Jill left, I realized another thing: I want people to be interested too. Having the two of them here asking questions about how I write, or why I write, was a gift to me. I wondered, am I so self involved that all I want to do is talk about my work? Is it really that interesting? And the answer is, yes, to me, it is.
So I ask myself, Is the point of creating to be interesting to oneself or to be interesting to others?
And I think it’s both. Most artists want both. Most people want both.
PS Needless to say, if you want to write, please do!