I am one of those people who is constantly looking for answers of some kind. It is just my nature. This is the reason that I love books so much. If there is a topic that I need to know about I will find a book on it and figure it out for myself. I am an autodidact. Maybe this is why I did not do well in school, I do not like to be told how something is, I want to discover it myself. Read about it on my own.
Early on I was drawn to self help books, a fact that is not very glamorous to some, (maybe not to myself even now.) There seems to be a stigma of sorts attached to the person who reads self help. An assumption that they are needy, lacking in self confidence, a willingness to trust in the beliefs of others more than their own. I will admit to having these feelings now when I enter the self-help section in a bookstore. Yet I am still drawn there for some reason. It is a human trait to want to seek out answers to our questions, and to regularly question our existence. Where not the early philosophers of our time the precursor's to the self-help movement? The existentialists themselves offered much advice on how one should view themselves, god (or absence of god), and offered methods for facing our mortality.
Over time as I gained more confidence in myself and my ideas, my interest in self-help titles waned. I became less interested in people who wanted to share their "methods" of living (and coping), and more interested in those authors who live by example, sharing their life experience not in a dogmatic way but in an annecdotal sense. The ones that actually live what they talk about. Life does not always go according to some formula, but is rather a compilation of transitions and evolutions. Formula falls apart in the wake of intense change, adaptation is key. The difficulty I find comes not with in seeking the answers to our questions, but rather in putting one's faith in someone else's answers.
You may find this strange coming from an author whose book can often be found in the self-help section of your local bookstore. Yes, indeed. But these are the things that run through my mind as I think about writing another book. The best books in my opinion are the ones that cause me to ask the interesting questions of myself, not necessarily provide answers. (Just as the best teachers I had in school.) Some of the great works of literature (fiction) may act as the best form of self-help, causing us to ask questions of ourselves, forcing us to look at what we believe in, what scares us, what fill us up.
For several months now I have been thinking about what to do as a follow-up to 'Living Out Loud'. Trying not to push it too much, I want the answer to come to me naturally. I refuse to do a book for book's sake, because that is what is expected of me, it must be genuine. It must have a reason to exist. (Maybe 'follow-up' is not the best way to phrase it). I do not want to be the author who puts out a book a year because that is what people expect of them. Nor do I wish to do the same thing over and over, (this also goes against my nature). When I have put things out into the world it has been a kind of 'giving birth' to an idea, there was always a knowing in my gut that I had to get this thing out. I will admit that there is definitely a pressure when one has published to "follow-up", "strike while the iron is hot", "keep people interested in your work". All fear based thinking. I fall into it from time to time. But I know that is not where the good work comes from. That is not the motive I wish fuel my ideas. And it does not make for an honest creation.
"Charles {Eames} said that the first step in designing a lamp (or anything) was not to ask how it should look--but whether it should even be. He always started fresh from the beginning. He showed us how to develop principles rather than follow formulas." -Corita Kent (from Learning By Heart)
There are many things bubbling up in me yet I don't know what form they will take. Both my journal and the blog serve as a planting ground of sorts, allowing me to put down ideas and let them formulate without judgement. They are not about doing 'great' work, but instead about giving space to the concepts. More importantly about living the concepts.
Only then will I have something to write about.
Posted by kerismith at October 10, 2004 10:12 AMI consider books-whether they are someone's personal story or self help as "fuel". Almost like eating lunch-I simply must have a little stack of books that I consider "devotionals" by my reading chair. They keep me focused on what I want my life to be so I can keep the daily negatives pushed in the background. Am anxiously waiting to stack another book by Keri on my plie-we believe in you!
Posted by: monicalee on October 12, 2004 11:20 AM"I am an autodidact. Maybe this is why I did not do well in school, I do not like to be told how something is, I want to discover it myself. Read about it on my own."
Ive always been an autodidact too and have always battled with schools and teachers etc or under instruction,I was the same as you at school,it was one of the reasons i started reading your diary. I left design school recently because i couldnt bare being told how to 'design' and do things.
I ended up teaching myself silversmithing because I knew I would learn better by error and finding my own way and method in it.
I Think if your never given instruction as a child you get use to formulating and finding your own answers and way of doing things and you turn into an autodidact. I believe bjork and the director lars von trier have always said they were raised this way and are grateful for the parental negligence now because it made for their high originality,they learnt to think very independantly.
Posted by: kv on October 11, 2004 09:01 PMi'm going to quote your own words--
"Take time to fill yourself up again (down time)."
people won't lose interest in what you have to say just because you don't put a book out right away...we all love you and you are a constant inspiration to so many people. you are on the right path...trust in that. the right words will flow when you're ready for them. never worry about another's interest in your work...as long as we have passion and keep our own interest alive in what we do others will pay attention.
Posted by: celisa on October 11, 2004 02:10 PMI have never read a self-help book. I am not the kind of person who looks to others for inspiration. I too, did not do so well in school, as I was too focused on what I 'wanted' to learn rather than what I was 'supposed' to learn. However, time and time again, I come back to your little corner of the internet. And I do it, because I actually do find it inspiring. This surprises me, and it may have something to do with the fact that I myself am a young illustrator, still finding her way. But I think it has more to do with your being honest about your life, and what it takes for you to create. Sincerity is hard to come by, I’ve found, especially in art. The more you combine your sincerity in your art, and your sincerity here, the more I’ll continue to enjoy your work and writing.
By the way, I just happened upon some of your work at Distil and it is more beautiful than I imagined it would be. A Jpg. does nothing for texture. Such a great store too.
Keri,
Have you read the book "Sophie's World" by Jostein Gaarder? It deals, in a round about way, with all the things you brought up in your last post. And also has a particularly interesting perspective on self-help as the philosophy of our age...
keri,
i've been reading your blog for a while. it's funny you wrote on this today, because as i was walking around the lake today, i was thinking, that its more important to find our own solutions to our problems, than to use other people's solutions to their problems.
i loved "The Road Less Travelled". And I am some what of an advice column addict. But in the end I think the stories that fascinate me most are ones that talk about HOW people find their solutions.
People write books about remarkable solutions they discovered for problems in their lives. But there is limited usefulness in those stories unless they help us to learn to find our own unique solutions.
Keep writing! :)
This quote has come into my life several times lately, and seems somehow appropriate here:
"Don't worry about what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and do that. Because what the world needs are people who have come alive."
-- Howard Thurman
"Life does not always go according to some formula, but is rather a compilation of transitions and evolutions. Formula falls apart in the wake of intense change, adaptation is key."
I really love what you have said here. It is a great way of summing up the way of life and its way of progression.
I always find writing to be frustrating at times. Although I am not putting out books or anything of the sort, I always felt that if I was going to be a good writer that I should be writing non-stop. That I should be producing all these mini stories, or poems, or what have you. I suppose you just have to wait for that spark, and hope to hell it keeps burning. And of course, observe as much as you can, write it down, and somehow all those words etched into the paper will form something spectacular sooner or later.
Your blog itself is a way of self-help. A place that keeps you questioning yourself and life.
Posted by: A. on October 10, 2004 06:34 PMAs always you're inspiring to read Keri. I have no doubt that the right book to right will find you.
I find it very hard not to be led by fear - waiting, not doing, being patient can be very scary. I remember reading that Alice Walker used to make patchwork quilts whilst she was waiting for The Color Purple to form - I suppose that is doing of a sort.
Posted by: Michael Nobbs on October 10, 2004 02:40 PMI have never been a big fan of the self-help book section (although I have your book; I don't really consider it self-help, though; maybe more self-exploration? self-play? that sounds a little naughty!)
The books that have always reached me, and stayed with me have always contained a great deal of humour. It's always been easier for me to joke about my troubles than to come out and describe them. Humour is, I think, one of the best methods of communication and instruction.
Posted by: patricias on October 10, 2004 02:23 PM