Tell me what you think.
This started out as a post whining about the over-all lack of feedback I tend to get on my art and/or writing. Or the fact that I seem to be caught in an emotional malaise, which has basically killed my motivation for the day. But really, what would bitching about something like that accomplish? Yeah, I get excited about my ideas and stuff, and want to talk about them with other people; the problem is that I cannot reasonably expect other people to necessarily be interested in any of the things I am interested in. Or to find the same ideas as fascinating as I do.
I think that's a hard one for a lot of people to keep in mind, but it's always been a particular difficult concept for me to swallow. There is literally a part of me that thinks that other people should get excited over the same things I do, and when I don't get the response I really want from them, I must not be selling the idea hard enough, or explaining it clearly enough.
This has gotten me in trouble in real life more than a few times. I turn into the thing that doesn't know when to shut up and stop talking about herself.
The problem is, when I catch myself doing stuff like this, not only do I hate myself a little for coming off as so self-centered, I also decide that whatever I am working on, or whatever I am excited about, is really just utter crap and I'm the only one too dumb to see it.
I feel the same way when I post something here or on DA or Facebook and get no responses. That the only reason no one is saying anything to me about it is because it's all absolute crap, and everyone is just too polite to say it directly.
And I wish that someone WOULD just say it, provided they tell me what particular bits are bad so I can at least work on improving them.
And then I want to apologize to the world for infecting it with my stupid lack of talent.
This is usually where I fall back on self-deprecating humor. (If I'm going to suck, I might as well be honest about it, and turn it into a joke! People like that sort of thing, right?) Problem is, as someone once pointed out to me, is that when you do that too often, people do tend to pick up on the fact that you are being at least partially sincere with your self-bashing, and that that is more than a little depressing to listen to.
Just as bad, if not worse, than boring people with shit they aren't interested in, when you think about it.
I dunno. I don't WANT to bore people. (Who does?) I don't want to be that person that rambles on about stuff that no one but me cares about.
But I do want to get it out of my brain, if only to keep from stagnating there. And i figure the best way to keep an idea from just rotting is to bounce it off someone (or a few someones) else's brain for a while.
Over 90% of the time, when I say I want feedback on a piece of writing or art, what I'm really asking for is a fresh perspective. I've usually been staring at whatever it is for so long, I can no longer look at it objectively, and I know that. (I also want to talk about it with someone.) And that is why the general silence I get really hurts.
I feel like I went in hoping to get the tools to improve, and wound up a little worse off than I was before. I feel like I have SO failed to produce something of worth that I can't even move someone to tell me that I suck.
And after that, all I want to do is yell SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK, REALLY. Even if it's something you think I don't want to hear. Hell, even if it is something I don't want to hear. Tell me where I'm messing up. Tell me if I'm getting anything at all right. I'll do my best not to get upset or defensive, even if it means taking a couple of hours or days to cool off. (And I do have to check myself on that. Usually, if I'm excited enough about something to actually create something, I will truly have been obsessing over it in the truest sense of the word. That is why I so very much need those fresh perspectives.)
Ah, well. Sorry, had to get that out. Here's a fresh one for the endless void.
I think that's a hard one for a lot of people to keep in mind, but it's always been a particular difficult concept for me to swallow. There is literally a part of me that thinks that other people should get excited over the same things I do, and when I don't get the response I really want from them, I must not be selling the idea hard enough, or explaining it clearly enough.
This has gotten me in trouble in real life more than a few times. I turn into the thing that doesn't know when to shut up and stop talking about herself.
The problem is, when I catch myself doing stuff like this, not only do I hate myself a little for coming off as so self-centered, I also decide that whatever I am working on, or whatever I am excited about, is really just utter crap and I'm the only one too dumb to see it.
I feel the same way when I post something here or on DA or Facebook and get no responses. That the only reason no one is saying anything to me about it is because it's all absolute crap, and everyone is just too polite to say it directly.
And I wish that someone WOULD just say it, provided they tell me what particular bits are bad so I can at least work on improving them.
And then I want to apologize to the world for infecting it with my stupid lack of talent.
This is usually where I fall back on self-deprecating humor. (If I'm going to suck, I might as well be honest about it, and turn it into a joke! People like that sort of thing, right?) Problem is, as someone once pointed out to me, is that when you do that too often, people do tend to pick up on the fact that you are being at least partially sincere with your self-bashing, and that that is more than a little depressing to listen to.
Just as bad, if not worse, than boring people with shit they aren't interested in, when you think about it.
I dunno. I don't WANT to bore people. (Who does?) I don't want to be that person that rambles on about stuff that no one but me cares about.
But I do want to get it out of my brain, if only to keep from stagnating there. And i figure the best way to keep an idea from just rotting is to bounce it off someone (or a few someones) else's brain for a while.
Over 90% of the time, when I say I want feedback on a piece of writing or art, what I'm really asking for is a fresh perspective. I've usually been staring at whatever it is for so long, I can no longer look at it objectively, and I know that. (I also want to talk about it with someone.) And that is why the general silence I get really hurts.
I feel like I went in hoping to get the tools to improve, and wound up a little worse off than I was before. I feel like I have SO failed to produce something of worth that I can't even move someone to tell me that I suck.
And after that, all I want to do is yell SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK, REALLY. Even if it's something you think I don't want to hear. Hell, even if it is something I don't want to hear. Tell me where I'm messing up. Tell me if I'm getting anything at all right. I'll do my best not to get upset or defensive, even if it means taking a couple of hours or days to cool off. (And I do have to check myself on that. Usually, if I'm excited enough about something to actually create something, I will truly have been obsessing over it in the truest sense of the word. That is why I so very much need those fresh perspectives.)
Ah, well. Sorry, had to get that out. Here's a fresh one for the endless void.