NEWS

It seems to me that in order to write, we need hope. Otherwise, what’s the point?

Hope is a funny thing. It’s not really something we can touch, taste, or feel. It’s something a little mysterious. A semblance of hope can be manufactured, marketed and sold. But honest-to-goodness hope is simple. To have hope means we have something to look forward to, something to live for. Manufactured hope is short-lived. Even religious hope begins to feel a bit too manufactured to me.

For me, hope comes in many forms. Some things I live for include family, travel, and the ability to express myself through creative arts such as writing and music. Yet, these are dark times. Between COVID-19, forest fires, and dark skies full of smoke, life can become dreary. Some days it feels as though the world is coming to its demise.

On the darker days, writing provides me with hope. Although I can’t speak for all creators, it’s my experience that the act of making something new, something that wasn’t there before, brings with it a sense of hope. There is an excitement and satisfaction in the process of creating. It gives the creator one more thing to live for, even when the world seems nearly hopeless.

To me, it’s odd that some great creative writers and artists have ended their own lives. Because even when everything else is going wrong, writing is one thing that I always have to look forward to. For me, writing and hope are indelibly intertwined.

If I were to stop writing completely, then it might be time to worry. – dse

Deconstruction is a way of understanding how something was created, usually things like art, books, poems and other writing. Deconstruction is breaking something down into smaller parts.

This is what I’m doing with my writing and my online presence. It’s a simple concept. I’m tearing apart my work and analyzing it. I want to understand how I can continue to create high-quality content in a smaller and more direct way. How can I share the same thoughts using less words? How can I be clearer and more concise?

The act of deconstruction helps us to see the strengths and weaknesses of what we do, what we write. By breaking down the last ten years of my writing journey, I can analyze which strategies worked and which ones didn’t. The results won’t lead me to becoming a master of the English language, but they will help me to improve as a writer and an artist.

Improvement in any field is really the ultimate goal, not to compete with others, but to better oneself, to excel in your field. Art becomes new and unique through deconstruction, understanding, and editing with passion.

So perhaps my new website is not under construction as much as it is the result of deconstruction.

Here’s to tearing things apart. – dse

It’s not really funny in a laughing way, but it’s funny how we humans can be. We often contradict ourselves.

As I began this new chapter in my creative journey, I swore that my new website would be a simpler place, somewhere you could just come and check out my music and poetry. I said that I wasn’t going to blog anymore, and I meant that. I still do.

Yet here I am. Writing. I guess that’s what makes me a writer.

I can’t not write. I’m not sure if that’s a blessing or a curse, but it’s a fact. Whether it’s poetry, song, short essay, or novel, I always find myself returning to the page, sometimes more often and with more urgency than other times.

And as much as I want to practice slowing myself and intentionally working toward something less, something else keeps pushing me to do more. It keeps me going in loops.

I write. It’s funny.

I guess it tickles my fancy. – dse