It's January; it's time to knuckle down to some serious work.
So this afternoon, while browsing my old pictures on the new laptop, (this is not writing, I know, but you have to start the process somehow - at least I'm at my computer), I came across an image of my favourite Hopper painting. It reminded me of my current manuscript and a thought struck me:
I want my manuscript to be like a Hopper painting.
What I mean is that I want people to react to reading my words as if they were looking at a Hopper painting. I want it to be as stylish, as haunting and as sexy as his painting are.
Take these two, my very favourite ones of his.
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| Nighthawks Edward Hopper 1942 |
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| Night at the Office Edward Hopper 1940 |
Couldn't you write a complete novel about these people's lives just by studying these images? Of course it's been done, (Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier) but still, I can see how inspiring a favourite piece of visual art can be.
Now where was I? Oh yes, must open the manuscript file....must open the manuscript file....must open....
Images curtesy of Wikipedia.
4 comments:
The hardest part is always starting, then you just think, what was I waiting for? I was always like that with any sort of university or school work, and I've never really changed.
Hey, you're much closer to the end than you are to the start though. The bar may not have moved recently but it looks pretty healthy!
Good luck! :-)
I love Hopper too- some people find them cold I've read and I can't see that at all.
Well if only I could write like he could paint too.
I think the old thing about writing is true- just crack on and do it and you feel better (spoken as one who is clearly not working on her own longer stuff but procrastinating with lots of short things!)
I'll second Corte Ingelesa's comments -- you've made tremendous progress. I'd say you're in the home stretch now, which is something to be championed. :)
I loooove this second Hopper painting -- whoa, it's very striking. (I've never seen it before, but I'm quite unfamiliar with his work, outside the very famous stuff, like Nighthawks). I've always wished I could have been alive in that time. I have a fantasy just like that painting: working as a secretary for a private detective, wearing pencil skirts and taking calls on a rotary telephone, while singing jazz part-time, in a slinky dress at a smoky club not too far from the office...
I think surrounding yourself with other art forms for inspiration is a wonderful idea! I think taking the time to reflect and meditate (even if takes all day) is just as important to the process as the writing itself.
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