Neil Young: Advice to Artists

In this interview, Neil Young is asked if he's interested in reaching out to new fans, and his answer seems to me to be the essential advice that every artist should bear in mind: "I'm always interested in reaching out to anyone who wants to listen, but really I'm doing it for myself."

"So it's really been coincidence. I'd have a big hit record and then I'd have what some people would say 'it flopped, miserable, terrible record' . . . and I'm going what a great record that was. I really liked it because it's going against the grain, it's got an individual thing, and it's not trying to be anything other than what it's doing."

I'm always intrigued by poets who say they write for an audience. I know we all do. Though for most of us the primary (and often only) audience we have is ourselves. 

Write things you enjoy, make them as well-crafted as possible, and have fun revising and revisiting your poems . . . in the process someone else may stumble upon and enjoy them, too. 

Let's see if I can heed my own advice.