A Painting Artist

By talking openly (you don’t get much more open than Letterman Live!) about his cancer diagnosis, Michael Douglas is doing us all a favour.

As a cancer survivor myself, I didn’t want to rush out and tell the world about my diagnosis, but I sure as hell wanted to find people who were willing to talk about their experiences. I had tons of questions, and getting a diagnosis is the loneliest feeling. Now I’ve passed my 5 year clearance, I feel differently – I want to shout and tell the whole world, ‘hey, I reached the top of this mountain’!

So hats off to Douglas for speaking so candidly, and at such an early stage of his treatment, when inspite of his optimism, he must be scared. A stage 4 cancer is not where you want to be. As Emma Thompson said in the movie ‘Wit’, about her character who had been diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer, ‘let’s just say there isn’t a stage 5.’

And it’s interesting that he has referenced the stressful events in his life (his son’s recent jail sentence and his ex-wife’s law suit against him) in the context of his cancer diagnosis, and not simply blamed his heavy drinking and smoking habit, because for sure both are not good for you, but not everyone who drinks and smokes heavily gets cancer.

What research has shown is the link between stress and illness, and how often cancer will form in the organ that is stressed. And in his case, it’s formed in his throat.

It must ‘stick in your throat’ when your ex-wife sues you for money she believes she is entitled to ten years post-divorce! And your son is banged up in prison, and no amount of star pulling power and lobbying can prevent that.

Just an ordinary dude coping with ordinary life. Just like the rest of us.

Ultimately, what we really feel will be voiced through our body whether we like it or not. The body and soul have a way of telling us the truth, and it’s our job to learn to pay greater attention to what it’s saying.

Like Woody Allen, I’ve done some time on the couch.

Unlike Woody though, I didn’t stay supine. I came to the conclusion that I could either spend the next decade analysising my life or, I could get out there and live it!

Allen has always maintained that his own analysis has enabled him to be more creative, not less, which is kind of interesting, and maybe says something about the type of relationship he had with his analyst, a view that was confirmed yesterday at the ICA, who hosted a viewing of Allen’s film, Deconstructing Harry, followed by a Q&A panel in association with The Institute of Psychoanalysis.

To some extent, Allen’s prolific productivity – a film a year, speaks for itself. Either way, I don’t think it’s cut and dried. Working issues through in analysis does give you a deeper and clearer meaning, sometimes even a changed perspective, and occasionally, a revelation. At it’s best for me, analysis did just that.

But at some point, doesn’t the artist have to step out from behind the shadows of the analysis, and put pen to paper, rather than pouring it all out on the couch or, does the couch enable you to generate more ideas for the page, the canvas?

Allen’s body of work seems to suggest that it’s a mixture of the two, and that his deconstruction of ideas is working just fine!

I’ve been thinking for some time now that the power dynamic between author and publisher has shifted, in favour of the author. Which is great news. This has happened, largely because the options to self-publish and distribute have grown up and become respectable, rather than being a disadvantaged teenager. This respectability has given authors an opportunity to generate more income for themselves, rather than giving the lion’s share to the publisher, and therefore also build their brand, and touch their tribe.

The author Nick Kettles is doing this with his book, ‘The All-Seeing Boy and the Blue Sky of Happiness’, which recently garnered an endorsement from His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Impressed with this achievement, and curious about how he had done this, I have interviewed him for my blog. His insights into his creative process are worth reading, if you are struggling to find an audience and publisher for your book. His secret is so simple, and yet easy to overlook in a marketplace that thrives on noise …

Read the full interview.

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