It ain’t easy making a living as any kind of artist. I wish I had a signed contract for every time I’ve heard a parent tell me, “Oh, my kid is so creative [fill in artist, actor, writer, dancer, whatever] but I’m telling him or her to major in [physics, accounting, chemistry, education—whatever the parent thinks is “practical”] because, of course, you can’t make a living at it.”
Well, the truth is, you can and this is dumb advice. Tons of people make a living every day at these professions, and there are plenty of out-of-work computer science majors. But, the employment path is fairly clear for computer science or chemistry: get the degree and get someone to hire you. The path for the arts is not: get the degree (or maybe not), get someone to hire you (or maybe not), sell your services, get a day gig (or maybe not)…but just because it’s not clear doesn’t make it un-doable. What does it require? Well, duh, it requires CREATIVITY.
If you want to eat and be any kind of artist, you need to think outside the box, not only with your art, but with your marketing, packaging, and bill paying. Maybe you will need to cobble together several jobs, sell several different versions of what you do, find a non-demanding dumb job (plenty of novelists have worked for the customs house, or the post office, or waiting tables) so you can still think and are raring to go when you get home.
But what these parents don’t tell their kids, what actually would be worthwhile advice, is that if you want to live by art, you'd better minor in business or plan to teach at some level. Acquiring the acumen to run a business, market, set up your website and social networking blitz—they’re all essential or no one is ever going to hear about your art.
Just like dating. It’s unlikely that anyone is ever going to arrive on a white horse. And if they do, it’s because you already have the door open and are looking out for the whinnying.
Two good books about making a living in one of the arts (writing):
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Thursday, November 12, 2009
NaNoWhat?
On November first I transformed my writing life. No, I didn’t get the advance I think I deserve, no super agent has had the good sense to sign me yet, and I didn’t land that million dollar corporate communications contract. I signed up for NaNoWriMo.
For anyone (like me) who’s been living under a rock for the last several years, NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month, where you take leave of your senses and actually volunteer yourself to produce 50,000 novel words in 30 days. Yes, I already know it’s impossible, but that didn’t stop me. After all, the Nikipedia joyously plunged in and I’m not going to be outdone on my home turf by a 15 year old. Well, okay, she outdoes me on nearly everything, but I’m not just going to lie down and die, right?
We went to a kickoff party November 1, where the average age was a whole lot closer to hers than mine, but it was awesome to be with a lot of writers talking about writing. Of course, they weren’t actually doing it, which is similar to a lot of people that get together and TALK writing. However, I had smugly banged out 2500 words that first day, and believe me that entitled me to a drink.
You already know how this story is going, right? It’s been dang near impossible to make the daily quota, 1,667 words if you are to have any hope of actually finishing up in the allotted time. I’m talking headaches, evening meetings, assignments where someone actually called ME, missives from the divorce lawyer, and other unpleasant, time wasting events. This morning, when the cat decided to run away, I was certainly tempted to shake my fist at heaven.
Now, note I did not say you had to produce 50,000 good words, and believe me, I have not. But what has astounded me is how much I have produced. I’ve been yammering about this novel for at least 5 years, spent months doing research, translating material from the French, making what I thought was a detailed outline, but written nary a word in that whole time. Well, okay, I wrote a first chapter which I labored over for several months for a contest. It’s horrendous, and I tossed it and started over for NaNoWriMo. Just goes to show the stuff you agonize about ain’t necessarily any better.
So, what have I discovered so far? I don’t have to be in a good mood, or inspired, or know where I’m going with the chapter, or even awake. What I have written has mostly happened at 6 am, or 9:45 pm with the Nikipedia sitting next to me on the couch and both of us clacking away. The stuff is awful, but there’s no way to go back or you can’t possibly finish the word count. I’m 2 days behind and hope to catch up this weekend, but I’ve written over 15,000 (hopefully revisable) words. This is the most I have ever written on one subject in my life.
I’m determined to win this, although my writing buddies (on the NaNo site) must be related to Road Runner as some of them have far EXCEEDED the needed daily count. I wonder if they would like my pets for a month? Next year (or next novel) I’m not going to bother with research, or outlining, until I write the first 50,000 words. I haven’t had time to go look up the details I recorded, name all the characters authentically, consult the timelines, nada. But I am going to have 30 distinct “talking points” so I’ll be able to figure out what the heck to write about. It ain’t easy getting my characters from chapter to chapter.
Now, if I could just add the 600 and some words from this post to my NaNoWriMo total...
For anyone (like me) who’s been living under a rock for the last several years, NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month, where you take leave of your senses and actually volunteer yourself to produce 50,000 novel words in 30 days. Yes, I already know it’s impossible, but that didn’t stop me. After all, the Nikipedia joyously plunged in and I’m not going to be outdone on my home turf by a 15 year old. Well, okay, she outdoes me on nearly everything, but I’m not just going to lie down and die, right?
We went to a kickoff party November 1, where the average age was a whole lot closer to hers than mine, but it was awesome to be with a lot of writers talking about writing. Of course, they weren’t actually doing it, which is similar to a lot of people that get together and TALK writing. However, I had smugly banged out 2500 words that first day, and believe me that entitled me to a drink.
You already know how this story is going, right? It’s been dang near impossible to make the daily quota, 1,667 words if you are to have any hope of actually finishing up in the allotted time. I’m talking headaches, evening meetings, assignments where someone actually called ME, missives from the divorce lawyer, and other unpleasant, time wasting events. This morning, when the cat decided to run away, I was certainly tempted to shake my fist at heaven.
Now, note I did not say you had to produce 50,000 good words, and believe me, I have not. But what has astounded me is how much I have produced. I’ve been yammering about this novel for at least 5 years, spent months doing research, translating material from the French, making what I thought was a detailed outline, but written nary a word in that whole time. Well, okay, I wrote a first chapter which I labored over for several months for a contest. It’s horrendous, and I tossed it and started over for NaNoWriMo. Just goes to show the stuff you agonize about ain’t necessarily any better.
So, what have I discovered so far? I don’t have to be in a good mood, or inspired, or know where I’m going with the chapter, or even awake. What I have written has mostly happened at 6 am, or 9:45 pm with the Nikipedia sitting next to me on the couch and both of us clacking away. The stuff is awful, but there’s no way to go back or you can’t possibly finish the word count. I’m 2 days behind and hope to catch up this weekend, but I’ve written over 15,000 (hopefully revisable) words. This is the most I have ever written on one subject in my life.
I’m determined to win this, although my writing buddies (on the NaNo site) must be related to Road Runner as some of them have far EXCEEDED the needed daily count. I wonder if they would like my pets for a month? Next year (or next novel) I’m not going to bother with research, or outlining, until I write the first 50,000 words. I haven’t had time to go look up the details I recorded, name all the characters authentically, consult the timelines, nada. But I am going to have 30 distinct “talking points” so I’ll be able to figure out what the heck to write about. It ain’t easy getting my characters from chapter to chapter.
Now, if I could just add the 600 and some words from this post to my NaNoWriMo total...
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Modern Romance
Sunday’s New York Times Magazine has an interesting article on “The First Marriage”. No, that’s not Adam and Eve; they’re talking about the Obamas. It was a delightful thing to read in bed on Sunday morning, almost as good as a juicy romance novel. I mean, wouldn’t we all like to be tall, thin, rich (well moderately, anyway), have a great career and a spouse that adores us?
Oh, I meant Barack. No, seriously, I think the Obamas are a great example of middle aged love, one to be admired and emulated insofar as possible, just like I hold up Barack’s life story to my daughter as an example of someone who can take bad life events and make something beyond the ordinary out of them. But the story in the Times is really about effort, not romance. Here are two people with ferocious intelligence, significant ambition, and apparently tons of energy. That combination can equal fireworks or synergy, and it clearly works because of real effort to understand, make compromises and trades, and take the best available to them (as opposed to seeking perfection.)
Unlike the bombastic buffoon we were beset with for the previous 8 years, one of Barack’s salient traits seems to be the ability to shut up and listen. How incredible to have a President who actually thinks he has something to learn from other people, maybe even his wife! As is obvious from the interview, Barack is still struggling to understand Michelle’s needs, and she struggles to mesh her personality with the needs of his role.
It ain’t easy being a mom and having a brain. Michelle’s career has certainly suffered for her support of Barack. It strikes me as so sad that, although feminism has certainly opened doors for women never possible before the ‘70s, it ended up costing women a lot as policies were implemented. Traditional work place protections were swept away, women who had spent many years raising children suddenly found themselves eligible in a divorce for only “rehabilitative” maintenance (as if motherhood made them handicapped…well, come to think of it…) or (very temporary) alimony, and now we are expected not only to have a career, be a spouse and bear children, but also do all the housekeeping and nurturing that used to be considered already a full time job. When my mother was a single working woman in her 20’s, she lived in an apartment building that was designed for working women and had maid service, because someone working a full time job couldn’t be expected to clean a (small) apartment! Dream on…
The other societal support that feminism did not achieve was the establishment of quality, easily available child care. Any woman that wants to pursue a career usually has a part time job arranging for the safety and well being of her children. Here’s where Barack and Michelle really won lotto. Michelle’s mother, Marilyn Robinson, is the unsung hero of their marriage.
Think about it—if you had a devoted, non-working grandmother who adored your kids, probably didn’t need to get paid, and was still spry enough to chase after them and young enough to drive without running over people on the sidewalk, wouldn’t you feel a great sigh of relief? Okay, if you have that, I’m green with envy. My mom was 80 years old when I had the Nikipedia, and she babysat a total of 4 times during Nikipedia’s childhood.
So now we know the secrets of the Obama marriage. Well, it wasn’t exactly a big secret—they love each other and work at it. It may not be perfect, but, gee, I’d take it. Now, what’s the other secret about the Obamas that I’d really like to know? What exercises does Michelle do for those arms?
Oh, I meant Barack. No, seriously, I think the Obamas are a great example of middle aged love, one to be admired and emulated insofar as possible, just like I hold up Barack’s life story to my daughter as an example of someone who can take bad life events and make something beyond the ordinary out of them. But the story in the Times is really about effort, not romance. Here are two people with ferocious intelligence, significant ambition, and apparently tons of energy. That combination can equal fireworks or synergy, and it clearly works because of real effort to understand, make compromises and trades, and take the best available to them (as opposed to seeking perfection.)
Unlike the bombastic buffoon we were beset with for the previous 8 years, one of Barack’s salient traits seems to be the ability to shut up and listen. How incredible to have a President who actually thinks he has something to learn from other people, maybe even his wife! As is obvious from the interview, Barack is still struggling to understand Michelle’s needs, and she struggles to mesh her personality with the needs of his role.
It ain’t easy being a mom and having a brain. Michelle’s career has certainly suffered for her support of Barack. It strikes me as so sad that, although feminism has certainly opened doors for women never possible before the ‘70s, it ended up costing women a lot as policies were implemented. Traditional work place protections were swept away, women who had spent many years raising children suddenly found themselves eligible in a divorce for only “rehabilitative” maintenance (as if motherhood made them handicapped…well, come to think of it…) or (very temporary) alimony, and now we are expected not only to have a career, be a spouse and bear children, but also do all the housekeeping and nurturing that used to be considered already a full time job. When my mother was a single working woman in her 20’s, she lived in an apartment building that was designed for working women and had maid service, because someone working a full time job couldn’t be expected to clean a (small) apartment! Dream on…
The other societal support that feminism did not achieve was the establishment of quality, easily available child care. Any woman that wants to pursue a career usually has a part time job arranging for the safety and well being of her children. Here’s where Barack and Michelle really won lotto. Michelle’s mother, Marilyn Robinson, is the unsung hero of their marriage.
Think about it—if you had a devoted, non-working grandmother who adored your kids, probably didn’t need to get paid, and was still spry enough to chase after them and young enough to drive without running over people on the sidewalk, wouldn’t you feel a great sigh of relief? Okay, if you have that, I’m green with envy. My mom was 80 years old when I had the Nikipedia, and she babysat a total of 4 times during Nikipedia’s childhood.
So now we know the secrets of the Obama marriage. Well, it wasn’t exactly a big secret—they love each other and work at it. It may not be perfect, but, gee, I’d take it. Now, what’s the other secret about the Obamas that I’d really like to know? What exercises does Michelle do for those arms?
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