What if you were brilliant, and nobody noticed?

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aruna

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I wasn't sure where to put this thread; it;s too serious for Office Party, yet not quite Current Affairs, but not about writing per se. But this Washington Post article, posted today on Miss Snark, broke my heart when I read it - I almost cried at the end, I was so moved!

I've often said that if I could choose my art, I'd be a musician, specifically, a violinist. And I always stop for good street musicians, especially violists, and I always give them money. Anyway, here's the article.

It also kind of answers the question of if nobody reads your book are you still a writer.
 
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swvaughn

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Yeah, I just read this on Miss Snark too. How very, very sad for us (the human race). How can you not stop to appreciate music?

We don't get many street musicians here in Mexico, New York, but a few times when I've been to NYC, I've seen them -- and I stopped, and listened, and gave them money. They're far braver than I am. When people take in what I make (stories) I'm not there to see their reactions. Street musicians have to deal with immediate response, which is all too often being ignored.

There were these guys in the subway once, playing a bunch of plastic buckets. It was loud. It was fantastic. I missed a train listening to them and I didn't give a damn.

How very sad.
 

Julie Worth

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He was too upbeat. He should have worn a George W. mask and played dirges.
 

Just Me

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It happens to writers on submission all the time. To steal a few quotes from this Web site:

H.G. Wells had to endure the indignity of a rejection when he submitted his manuscript, "The War of the Worlds" that said, "An endless nightmare. I do not believe it would "take"...I think the verdict would be 'Oh don't read that horrid book'."

"Jonathan Livingston Seagull will never make it as a paperback." From the publisher of a magazine refusing an offer to bid on the paperback rights to Richard Bach's best selling novel. Avon Books eventually bought those rights and sales totaled more than 7.25 million copies.

A letter rejecting "The Diary of Anne Frank" said, "The girl doesn't, it seems to me, have a special perception or feeling which would lift that book above the 'curiosity' level."

Even Dr. Seuss was not above the scathing rejection, "...too different from other juveniles on the market to warrant its selling."

I've also read varying accounts of how many rejections J.K. Rowling went through before Bloomsbury bought her first Harry Potter book. No one seems to know the exact number (the lowest I've seen is nine, and JKR herself only knows it was "a lot"), but all of them said the book was too long, too strange, or too different. I think we all know how that turned out. :tongue

In a strange way, that article is kind of reassuring to me. Just because one agent or editor -- or even a whole flock of them -- rejects your work doesn't mean it isn't good (or even great!) or that you don't have a future. It's just that they, like the busy passers-by, don't have the benefit of a context to put your story in. But if your work IS as brilliant as that violinist's was, odds are good that someone will recognize it eventually. You just have to stick around long enough to let them hear you play.

~JM.
 

maestrowork

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There's an old saying in China: "Talent meets no eyes or ears." I've seen musicians like him everywhere -- great voices, great talent, but people just rush by. Years ago, there was a blind black guy in who had the greatest operatic voice (and he had no training) begging on the street. Eventually, years later, people started to notice him and he actually got invited to sing with the symphony or something. People are so busy now that many don't have the time or attention and stop and appreciate.
 

aruna

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I don't see how it possibly matters. In the end, we only die anyway. Who cares if along the way you become somebody who is listened to, read, watched. It doesn't matter. You'll be feeding the earth and the worms within it soon enough. There is no glory in that.

That's a very sad view. Thankfully, I don't share it. I believe that every second of beauty we add to our consciousness is worth it - both in this life, and when we pass on; that's why I stop to listen, smell the roses!
 

Rolling Thunder

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We're gonna die? How come nobody told me about this sooner? I want my money refunded from this ride.
 

PeeDee

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It doesn't matter if anyone notices. I may write for readers, bu I don't write solely because of the readers. If it came down to it, I'd do exactly what he's doing: I'd set myself up with a typewriter, or something, and I'd write in public as best as I could. And if no one notices...then no one notices.

What can you do? The alternative is to shout out "I am brilliant! Pay attention to the cleverness of me!" and that's not an option at all. We see plenty of assholes who trickle through this very site who do that.

Humility is very important.
 

swvaughn

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I don't feel bad for Joshua Bell here. It's not that he wasn't being listened to. It is that everyone is so fixed on getting to whatever it is they're off to do, they don't want to be bothered stopping for even a minute to listen to something beautiful being offered to them for nothing more than a moment of their time.

The glory is in living, for all of us, and we don't appreciate the time we have. Every one of us could be so much more than we are, and the simple act of connecting with another human being through whatever means enriches us. But we can't be bothered.

That is what's sad. Not "a great artist didn't get recognition," but that our lives are so inwardly focused that we don't realize what wonders are around us. It's just so amazing that we're even here in the first place. We shouldn't have time for pettiness, cruelty, ignorance, spite, or self-centeredness, but those things seem to prevail in everything.

I pity everyone who rushes by street musicians with gazes averted because they feel obligated to give money, and that's the last thing they want to do -- when simply stopping for a minute to appreciate the music would be enough for the musician.
 

aruna

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It doesn't matter if anyone notices. I may write for readers, bu I don't write solely because of the readers. If it came down to it, I'd do exactly what he's doing: I'd set myself up with a typewriter, or something, and I'd write in public as best as I could. And if no one notices...then no one notices.


Humility is very important.

Exactly - he is not the loser here - they are.
 

PeeDee

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Actually, what Joshua's doing, standing out there and playing, sounds like a lot of fun. I'm a bit envious.


 

aruna

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The glory is in living, for all of us, and we don't appreciate the time we have. Every one of us could be so much more than we are, and the simple act of connecting with another human being through whatever means enriches us. But we can't be bothered.

That is what's sad. Not "a great artist didn't get recognition," but that our lives are so inwardly focused that we don't realize what wonders are around us. It's just so amazing that we're even here in the first place. We shouldn't have time for pettiness, cruelty, ignorance, spite, or self-centeredness, but those things seem to prevail in everything.
.

I found it most intersteing that children heard and wanted to stop - and were dragged away by their parents.
 

eldragon

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That is one awesome story, Aruna.

I am sure we would stop to listen. We always listen to classical music anyway, and love the violin the best. Also, even at college functions, we are often the only people standing through the entire repertoire of the brass ensemble playing Christmas tunes.

So, I'm sure we'd stop and listen and we'd probably cry, and we'd shake our heads and wonder how come this man wasn't famous. After that, we'd probably be depressed for days, knowing that if this kind of talent didn't make it - nobody would.
 

Cindyh2k

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I think that this just goes to show just how much we miss in this "rush to get from one place to another and never stop for a breather" world that we live in. What is the point of rushing here and there and doing a million things in a day if you never have time to stop and enjoy something beautiful that is right in front of your eyes?

Cindy, another person who loves to enjoy the beauty around her - whether it be music, writing, or nature
 

PeeDee

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You know, he may not want fame. He may be perfectly content just playing on a street, every now and then. And then he packs up and goes on with the rest of his life.
 

eldragon

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You know, he may not want fame. He may be perfectly content just playing on a street, every now and then. And then he packs up and goes on with the rest of his life.
You're being hypothetical, right? Because this guy is a famous child prodigy.
 

Cindyh2k

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That's true, PeeDee. He may just do it because he enjoys it - and that is all he wants.
 

Cindyh2k

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You're being hypothetical, right? Because this guy is a famous child prodigy.

But, maybe when he was a child, it was the parents pushing for fame and fortune?
 

Just Me

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I thought it was sad that so many people just walked by, but what caught my attention was the fact that some people DID stop and let themselves fall in love with the music. The whole world doesn't have to stop. As long as there are some people who do (and who take the time to notice that not doing so is a problem), to me, that's a hopeful sign.

~JM.
 

maestrowork

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They're indeed the losers. He seemed to be having a good time. Sometimes I fantasized about standing in a corner of the Times Square subway station and singing for an hour. I don't care if anyone would listen -- their loss if they don't -- but it sure would be a lot of fun just to perform in public, for free...

;)
 
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If playing music is all someone wants to do, why do it in public? That still shows a desire for attention, to me. Or an audience.
 

swvaughn

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Joshua Bell did this because the Washington Post asked him to. It was an experiment -- they wanted to find out what would happen, to see if people really were so busy that they wouldn't pay attention to a famous violinist who happened to be standing in a subway playing a Stradivarius.

Guess the experiment proved a fairly powerful point.
 
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