A great read for emerging artists

Anne Patchett's "Truth and Beauty" is the non-fictional story of Anne's friendship with another writer. I find that this book is a inspiration for the emerging artist as well as a cautionary tale about the motivations behind doing art and the pitfalls of success. Pratchett pulls no punches in describing the artistic lows and highs. It is inspiring to hear her story, and read about both writers' eventual success fueled by talent and perseverance.

Lucy Grealy, the other writer in the story, ''was absolutely committed to the idea that writing would be her salvation and that she was obligated to pull herself out of all her present miseries with the sheer strength of her will and talent.'' Lucy did publish, and was considered successful, but abandoned her writing career after her first big publication. I simplify perhaps, but I feel that Lucy was doing art for the wrong reasons (success for the sake of succcess) and ultimately abandoned art because she didn't really enjoy the actual making of art.

You get the sense that Anne had a stronger connection to her art, for the sake of doing art. While she also was driven by success to a degree, art occupies a more central part of her life:
"We had each come to realize that no one was going to save our lives, and that if we wanted to save them ourselves, we had only one skill that afforded us any hope at all. Writing is a job, a talent, but it's also the place to go in your head. It is the imaginary friend you drink your tea with in the afternoon.''

Finally, I love Lucy's description in a letter to Anne of how negative one's art can get in the face of adversity. "Four fucking times they've said no, get lost. And what ever made me think I could write a novel? What a piece of trash it is. And as for my poetry, well [the fine art center in provincetown] has told me in no uncertain terms what that's worth...I just feel so baseless, so rootless, but exernally and internally. I think to myself, well, okay, do some writing, that'll make you feel better, but it's not that I can't write...but that I hate what I write....Maybe I should just stop thinking I'm some sort of artist and look at the actual facts of my never having really and truly succeded at anything." I think every emerging artist, myself included, feels as negative about his or her work at times.

A conclusion I take away from this story, and agree with, is to do your art for yourself for the sake of the art and persevere through those inevitable lows. Maybe you'll "make" it, but one realizes the important part is finding an equilibrium between artmaking and everything else we call life. Fame and wealth are ephemeral, and the joy of making the art must be its own reward. Simply put, you must like making the art. This is an insightful, touching, and completely honest story about two emerging artists and their lives.