I have learned to not equate “published” with “competent” – they are sometimes used to describe the same author but they are not necessarily interchangeable. Don’t believe me? Go to any used book store and smell old novels. Take all the ones that smell really really musty (preferably wearing faded old hard back covers), and browse through them. All of them are written by “published” authors but the majority of them are in no way remarkable except that years ago, for whatever reason, they were published.
I think the greatest writers and artists are those who do because they cannot do otherwise. Sometimes this means they have an audience of one, and sometimes, depending on a LOT of variables, they will become best selling, highly successful crafts folk.
If O’Keefe had not married Steiglitz the world would never have seen her flowers, arid landscapes, New York neighborhoods, skulls. Some say she was a very mediocre artist. Whether she was or wasn’t doesn’t really matter – the point is – we wouldn’t know who she is had she not happened to marry one of the most influential promoters of art on the early 20th century.
We write the songs but the world will decide on its own whether or not to sing them.
Kit Duncan 