The Art of Asking
In Amanda Palmer’s book, The Art of Asking (a book I highly recommend to all, but especially to anyone who is creative) Ms. Palmer explains how she came to realize that the creation of art always involves asking and that asking is difficult because the outcome of asking is always uncertain. The answer may be yes, but the answer may also be no.
Ms. Palmer, who has earned success as an alternative rock, punk singer, began her entertainment career as a human statue called the “The Eight Foot Bride.” After leaving college, Ms. Palmer quickly abandoned her career as a server in an ice cream store when she discovered that she could make more money as a street performer. She put on a wedding dress, painted her face white, and stood on crates in Harvard Square, holding a bouquet of day-old flowers which she rescued from florists shops. When passers-by left money in the hat at her feet, she would “come to life,” lean down and offer them a flower from her bouquet. Some people immediately would accept the statute’s offer, but others would walk away quickly, refusing the “bride’s” silent request to take the flower. A third group would hesitate, undecided whether or not to accept the offering. In The Art of Asking, Ms. Palmer describes how the other bystanders would chant “Take the Flower, Take the Flower” to the Undecided.
I was getting ready to publish my new novel, Mirror, Mirror, when I finished The Art of Asking. I realized that I was looking forward to putting the book out in the world for readers to experience and enjoy, but I was also reluctant to turn it loose, too. That feeling seemed odd to me because I had been working feverishly every night after work to write the novel and to polish it for publication. So why did I suddenly have stage fright?
I realized that asking readers to experience a new novel is difficult. The answer from readers might be yes, or the answer might be no. Indie authors are bombarded with “courses” to “teach” them how to launch a book, a process that is supposed to persuade many readers to say “yes” all at once to a new novel. But I slipped Mirror, Mirror quietly into the ranks of ebooks on Amazon without any “guarantee” of any yeses. I realized when I hit the publish button, that like the “Eight Foot Bride,” I was holding out my “flower” and hoping many people with say “yes” to it. That is the art of asking.
To hear Amanda Palmer’s TED talk about The Art of Asking, go here youtube.com/watch
To see the Eight Foot Bride, go here youtube.com/watch
To read Mirror, Mirror, A Legal Thriller go here amazon.com/…book/dp/B0757GSP35/ref=sr_1_5
