Here's a rant that I delivered to a friend (the same person who got the zombie poem!) subject matter: Art & Inspiration

KNUCKLE UP, ITS LECTURE TIME!

No no no now, no need to ever quit doing something you love unless it is keeping you from doing other things that are more important. You can always make time though, if you give up on something you may never pick it back up, and it might lead into quitting other things until it just seems easiest to give up on everything but what drives you, and it can be dangerous to depend on only 1 source of happiness because when it's gone where are you to turn? Your old habits seem just that, old, abandoned, forgotten, and you may have either completely lost interest whether you wanted to or not, or, you might lose all your skill and have to learn all over, or possibly not even have a fat chance in a skin bar at ever regaining your original skill and style. It can be a good growth and contrast to take periodic breaks and take a step back to look at what you've done up until now and how it helped you get to this point, and then think up new variations on old techniques and maneuvers, but never quit for too long, or could be your downfall, in one form or another whether it's your happiness, your stress release, your meditation, your concentration, your liberation, or even just your expression. You can be bold in ways through art that you cannot possibly express in normal conversation.

Sorry, I am an artist at heart and I am appalled at the lack of commitment some people show (not to mention the lackluster repetitive bland conformist content some produce) when they could truly shine. I appreciate art in all forms and I don't think anyone should ignore the call to be creative nor hold out on their imagination; but let it explore itself and you will see how truly vast it can be, in a world where anything can be anything everything is possible, including finding ways to bring your imagination to life in our corporeal little slice of reality. Photography is an art form, and you have beautiful form on your own as well, the combination of both plus your taste in coloring and style is actually quite impressive, everyone else seems to think so too, you should never quit, just keep a steady pace and you will keep perpetually improving, learning from your mistakes, maybe even discover new and hidden talents or a yearning to try other forms of expression, from what I see you have the knowledge drive determination and the raw essence of what it takes to be a truly amazing artist.

(IMPORTANT: I know I just said learn from your mistakes but one of my main philosophies on the matter is that in art there are no mistakes, only room for improvement. I've been telling people that for years and I was actually so proud when 4 or so years after I said that to someone they became a better & more committed artist and told me my own phrase back to me & I said "yea, who do you think you heard that from?" He says "Oh yea, that's so true! Even for matters in everyday life." I really appreciated that someone took a lesson of mine to heart and it actually worked for them! What a confidence booster!)