Written words last longer than a simple thought...

From the book One Man’s 1021 Thoughts: July 26, 1999…I wrote, “I see last week as a starvation period—it’s my goal, my wish and deepest dream to encourage poets, painters and other creators to come out of hiding. Your purpose is to create…when you don’t—starvation consumes the true self.”

Eleven chapters later in 2010…I still believe art isn’t a world of lets pretend but rather I believe.

What silences art more is the person holding it back? Art was a class you were forced to take in school. We’d dibble, dabble and spin the paper around. We’d cut, paste and look out the window for rivers of inspiration. A chunk of wet clay dropped on the table captivated the curves of a child inside sending drug like shivers through a system that was constantly told to shut up and pay attention.

Rarely is a person pulled aside and given reasons of explanation to the spaces the imagination finds air to breathe in.

In adult clothes an artist’s shoes carry a scent invited by the dust covered trails that constantly invite a writer, designer, landscaper and chef to places of flow only to find themselves stepping back every so often wondering, “How did this happen? Where did it come from? I can’t tell you where I’ve been the past two hours.”

During an age when answers are required to be instantly found…if nothing comes to mind…art is set aside for a different day that often never arrives.

What pushed Agatha Christie past page one of Murder on the Orient Express? If Mark Twain truly hated the idea of writing an autobiography what were the exact feelings felt the moment his heart said, “Ok…we begin today.” Was Evil Knievel insane or a master of flight? What if Harry Potter didn’t make it past the original editor would JK Rowling still be hiding?

The artist in me once wrote: Your purpose is to create…when you don’t—starvation consumes the true self.

I’m not searching…I’m only inviting you to find yourself so the rest of the world can hold what you’ve kept hidden away.

I will always believe in your first…

arroecollins@clearchannel.com