Creative people annoy me.

This is a companion post to this ramble.

Okay, so. I am a creative person. I love the arts. I love reading, writing, photography, art, music, etc. I even love participating in the aforementioned activities. I would even go as far to say as without an artistic outlet, I would probably go insane.

I have to be honest, though. Most creative people annoy me. By "creative people," I mean people who have worked really hard to build up their image as "artists" and continually refer to themselves as "artists." Seriously, they make me want to puke.

These people usually have gigantic, fragile egos. They can't take criticism. They think everything they produce has been handed down by some divine being, and thus they never see the need to revise or edit or change what they originally wrote/painted/etc. If someone doesn't "get" their work, then that person must be stupid.

I have never really enjoyed spending time with these kinds of people, because they come across as being fake and insincere. Yes, I am a creative person, but I am truly interested in becoming better in my creative endeavors, not just getting praise for each and every thing I produce. And I will freely admit that most poems I've written and most photographs I've taken really suck. Every once in awhile, I get something good.

This is why I never was really interested in pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing. While the thought of being around so many other people who love writing as much as I do really excites me, I am so cynical about these programs. I don't like being around people who think that they are better than everyone else because they are "artists." I like people who are down-to-earth, who realize that no matter how many publications you have, no matter how many awards you win, you're still just a person.

I called this a companion to this post, because the point that I was trying to make in that last entry is what I'm talking about in this one. I am bowled over by the amount of bloggers who have the same voice. I happen to love my blog readers/commenters because each and every one of you is different, and I can tell it's you by the way you write and the things you say. To me, having something original to say is profound - I don't care how whiny you think it is. (Many of you said you feel like you whine a lot on your blogs.) Of course we are all going to censor ourselves to a certain degree. I don't mind getting intensely personal on my blog, but there are some things I am just not going to talk about on here. I certainly can't really blame others for wanting to protect themselves.

I guess I just want more from people sometimes. More of who they are and less of the cultivated artist persona they have created for themselves - but it is probably more apt to say that these personas are created mostly for the world to see. I am so much more interested in ordinary people as they go about their daily lives than I am in people who live in some kind of fantasy land where everything is bee-yoo-tee-ful and where every single piece of "art" they produce is the shit. This is probably why I don't have many (or any?) "creative" friends, though I would argue that everyone is creative in some way.

I really loved your comments and thoughts on my last little ramble, so feel free to tell me how you feel about this subject as well, if anything.