Writers Are Artists

You're an artist! Did you know that? No brushes, no canvas, no sculptor's clay in your hands but you use words to paint a picture. I've shared a short piece I wrote on painting with words which I won't repeat today. You can read it here, if you like.

One of best ways to paint that picture for your readers is to use sensory details. If you can let your readers taste, smell, see, hear or feel the touch of what you're writing about, you've accomplished something big. All those little details draw the reader into the scene. He/she can relate from their own previous experiences. You will paint the picture for them.

Sensory details are important but so is showing the reader those details. Do not just tell them that the birds were singing. Show your character stopping to listen to the chirping. Show the character experiencing the sickening smell of days old garbage. Show it and your reader will feel it.

The Arts World includes more than the paintings and sculptures. Theater, dance, and literary works are all a part of it, as well. Yet, we hear the word 'art' and we sometimes fail to remember that we, as writers, are a part of the Art World. If you write, you are an artist, too.

I wrote a poem about writers being artists and have shared it here in the past but perhaps today is another day to share it once more with you, the writer artists.

Artists All

Painting with oils,

watercolors brushed across canvas,

clay molded by loving hands,

marble chiseled to exquisite form

Artists ply their trade,

by the golden light of day

and velvet depths of night,

with passion and verve.

One more artist joins the rank.

The writer brushes words over paper,

molds a story bit by glittering bit,

chisels a novel to survive the ages.

The writer gathers life’s stories

from country roads to city streets,

written from the depths of a heart

bursting with intensity and rapture.

Artists all, masters of creation,

be they painters, sculptors or writers,

leaving footprints on canvas, marble and paper--

heartfelt tributes embraced by mankind.