Laughing Together

My keynote and drawing live on Medium,

The below was reprinted from my Medium column, which I have been writing for ten years.

Finding who you are as a creative person — be it writer, visual artist, musician, is a life-long endeavor. If you really want to find your voice, you have to listen to yourself first and foremost. And be patient with yourself!

Last weekend, I was invited to speak at Medium Day and here is the recording. During the half hour, I talked about finding your voice and all the vicissitudes of that — both joy and pain. I drew for the camera as I talked.

Why is it we love to look at art, or listen to music or laugh at a cartoon? I think it’s the celebration of the human spirit that is at the core. We are all creative beings, some of us just express it differently than others. I believe doctors, lawyers, cooks, teachers, social workers, store clerks are all creative in their unique way. It’s all about that relatedness.

I sort of remember when I first saw a line drawing. I was drawing as a really young child, but when I discovered that there were others who did it too in books and newspapers, I was transfixed. I am not alone! Every line drawing I saw from then on was “mine,” meaning I felt it was done for me. I felt connected to that artist.

During my session, the Q&A function was not showing up on my screen, glitches happen! But there were many questions, and Medium sent them to me. I will try to answer some here in this post and more in a subsequent post.

Q: How do you get your ideas?

A: It’s a matter of sitting at your desk and drawing what comes into your mind. I look at the news and culture stories to spark my brain, particularly for topical things….what people are doing in this world! And I write it down, next to the doodles. And then sit with them all, and try to put things together.

Q: How was your mentality in the first few years of submitting to The New Yorker?

A: At first, I was full of hope and excitement. Once I sold one, I felt encouraged, almost like an intern. Then, the sales were really slow, and that was hard. I had a job, which was good to pay the rent. But it was hard to keep my focus and understand how to keep going forward. I almost quit. But happy I didn’t! It helps to confide in a trusted fellow creator, which is what I did. He helped me stay encouraged.

Q: How do you listen to yourself? Can you elaborate?

A: I guess what I mean is to be still and listen to where your mind goes, That’s for the creative part of finding what interests you, what words and ideas and concepts your mind gravitates to. Then it’s also about understanding why you are doing what you are doing.

Q: How do you balnace the political and partisan divide and keep your ideas more central to the issue at hand?

A: It’s tough. First of all, I try to take attacking out of the picture, although I have done my share of attacking politicians. But it’s a matter of reading a lot of news and trying to find the essence of what its about. For example, what is the partisan stuff all about? Why are we like this? Where does it come from? It’s stepping back and looking at the big picture and not get caught up in my personal tastes or dislikes.

Q: How do you silence the negative thoughts in creative work?

A: I once heard from a writer (wish I could recall the name of who it was) that you have to acknowledge those thoughts. Accept that they will be there, it’s normal. Then tell the thoughts to sit over in the corner and not bother you! Just keep doing, keep creating. Or, acknowledge them and take the afternoon off and do something else for a while. You will come back refreshed.

Q: What did you wear to the Oscars?

A: ha! I wore a black dress, of course! They require the press to wear black tie as well, and we are instructed to wear black or navy (no bright scarlet dresses!) so as not to overshadow the talent.

I will answer more of the questions in a subsequent post.

Here is a video Medium did about me, it was so fun.

https://noteworthy.medium.com/liza-donnelly-c848c1d06ac4