Ask Fran

Dear Fran,

A while back I set a personal goal to blog more consistently – to write a new thing at least every other week.  I was doing okay at first, and excited to have a deadline.  But I feel like I’ve lost momentum and I have no idea what to write about anymore.  What should I do?

Sincerely,

Backsliding in Boise

Dear Backslide,

I don’t know about you, but I am the most at home in the world when I am ripping pieces of trash into smaller pieces of trash.  The orchestra of sensation sweeps me away for tens of minutes and it is not until I look up that I realize that the objects of my focus are arranged:  the loose snow of tissue is a grounded sky for tinfoil stars – green mazes of dental floss tease toward but obscure a blush of tampon.

In addition to collage I enjoy barking.  If I am honest with myself, it does not accomplish much for very long – a different squirrel intrudes, the neighbor dog will never explode into a cloud of shame and fear – but it scratches an itch. 

My art is controversial and rarely well received.  And it is ephemeral.

Goals are important.  Routine, too.  But when I say, I am most at home in the world, I mean I am unaware of everything but action.  I think that is the high for which we artists strive considering how lonely, cold, and mundane a lot of living is.   

Stick to your goal and publish anything -- garbage if that’s what’s fun.  Best-case scenario, you strike a chord and connect with another being.  Worst-case scenario, you do not, but you spend a few scheduled minutes on earth engaged,  doing something only you would do.