A NOTE to ARTISTS & WRITERS

Note to artists and writers: those elements in your work that bother people the most are probably the very ones you should cultivate. In my novel, Punk Disco Bohemian, I set out to rub people the wrong way w a transgressive approach to plot, for one. I wanted people to think differently about time, space and memory, and even alerted the reader about that at the start of my book. Sure enough, it was the very aspect two reviewers, one a transgressive writer herself, seized upon as the novel's weakness. 

In the long run the criticisms please me as contradiction is necessary to any conversation about art and, personally, I don't believe anything that is praised exclusively is likely to have a long life beyond the cultural moment in which it was conceived. 

I've found and continue to find that utter fearlessness and constant experimentation are the keys to growing artistically. Not everything is going to work, but if you don't go off the deep end from time to time, you won't experience the thrill of falling--or flying--however you may look at it.

Be yourself. Be brave. Take risks. First and foremost, please yourself and trust your gut about what's right even if you're not really sure what you are talking about. You should ever need to sum that up. Failure and rejection are inevitable. They only matter as much as you let them matter. Keep trucking through it all with hearty vengeance.