Born Not Made

"...poems, like poets, are born and not made. The poet's task is to deliver the poem in as uninjured a state as possible, and if the poem is alive, it is equally anxious to be rid of him, and screams to be cut loose from his private memories and associations, his desire for self-expression, and all the other navel-strings and feeding tubes of his ego."
-Northrop Frye, Archetypes of Literature pg. 701

If you are as great a procrastinator as I am then I know you'll have heard "that paper isn't going to write itself, you know" and all the variations thereof. And while that is technically true it is also very false. A good essay or strong idea or really any bit of art, be it carving, painting, writing or whatnot, will start itself, grow by itself, and finish itself. This sounds impossible but the (I'm going to call them the artist) artist isn't anything but a tool or, as Frye noted, the midwife. The artist does the least amount of work and gets the most credit for it too! The idea is sparked in the artists mind and continues to grow until it cannot help but be expressed outwardly by the artist, or, in other words, birthed. Once it reaches the outer world it grows until it has finished and there is now more to be done to it. It is at its strongest form, ready to take on the world. Kind of reminds me of growing up and hitting college. Oooh, scary comparison! Anyway, while the artist must deliver the piece he or she does not truly write it except in the most literal sense of pen to paper or fingers to keys or what-have-you.