In some ways, writing is like any craft. Developing in piano-playing, carpentry, pottery, sculpting, and other worthwhile art forms never ends for the creators until they walk away from it for good. Well into his eighties and his seventh decade of performing, jazz saxophone titan Sonny Rollins said, "I'm still learning." To experience the craft is to evolve with it throughout your life. People who do not have that feeling are not craftspeople or artists—they are just someone doing a job, and chances are a bad one.
The artform you practice becomes integrated in everything you do: your socialization, leisure activities, education, reading, meals, sleep, even your dreams. It demands your total buy-in. Indeed, the art influences your worldview. It becomes the most important thing you do, in fact, the most important thing anyone would want to do, in your opinion. Over the next several posts, I will describe how this influence manifests itself to form a true artist, with a specific focus on my craft—writing.
