James Joyce fans?

So I'm having one of those days where I feel like I'm not fufilling my full potential in life (actually I have a lot of those days). When I'm at work, I find myself just drifting off to these imaginary places where I can completely indulge in my creative side without any financial or life changing repercussions. I've always been a daydreamer, but the difference is that I now I have a stronger grasp on reality, and I feel like I've become less and less of an artist.

Speaking of artists...I just finished A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce. Said to be basically an autobiography of Joyce himself, the novel depicts the life of Stephen Dedalus as he grows up in Ireland and eventually walks away from his Catholic heritage and goes to England to pursue a life as a writer. My summary simplifies the novel too much. There is really a lot more to analyze regarding Stephen's(or Joyce's) issues with Ireland and the oppressive Catholic religion under which he grew up, but my personal connection to the novel deals with his development as an artist. I actually find myself wondering if Stephen(Joyce) becomes a writer in response to his life or if he is a born artist who feels he cannot flourish in his own country. But either way, when he begins to discover his calling and form his own ideas about beauty and art, it is obvious that he was not in sync with the political and religious system in place. I realize that Joyce's story is significant in the context of his historical time period and location, but I feel like as an artist myself, I can relate to his situation.

My opinion may be biased, but I think that many artists come up against some force in their lives that fights against them as a creator. For me its the fear of instability. I'm not sure what it is for others...if there is even anything. But reading Joyce's novel has caused me to reflect on the processes that artists go through as they develop, and the novel has shed some more light on the character of Joyce himself. The story of the artist adds a certain richness to his work by revealing the historical and political factors that caused him to leave Ireland, but continue to write about the country long after.

Day One

For some reason, I've always felt the need to write something profound on the first page of any journal I've ever begun...as if the world is just waiting for me to die so that everyone can burst through my door, rip my personal journals off the shelf and open them up to see what I've written on the first pages. Of course the reality is that the world is not waiting outside my door, and really no one(with the exception of my dog), knows I even keep a journal. But, since I seem preoccupied with the idea of writing to an audience, I thought I'd try the world of blogging. Not that the cyber world is necessarily an audience, but at least I am voicing my thoughts to something more than lined paper. Anyway, I read a lot of literature, and I think way too much about everything, so...here it goes....