Good Ink

I love Amy Tan.  I love what she says about art , and for me, writing, in The Bonesetter's Daughter.  

"I was remembering how Auntie Precious taught me that everything, even ink, had a purpose and a meaning:  Good ink cannot be the quick kind, read to pour out of a bottle.  You can never be an artist if your work comes without effort.  that is the problem with  modern ink from a bottle, you do not have to think,  You simply write what is swimming on the top of your brain.  And the top is nothing but pond scum, dead leaves, and mosquito spawn.  But when you push an inkstick along an inkstone, you take the first step to cleansing your mind and your heart.  You push and you ask yourself,  What are my intentions?  What is in my heart that matches my mind."

So true!