Artist is Risky Business

Choosing to be a professional artist has some unique challenges.

All my career choices have been artistic. In one form or another, I was bound to be a professional artist.

I am in no way bragging here – but I have a few different artistic talents and skills.

It started with writing. At age 9, I wrote my first complete sci-fi book. It was 50 pages and illustrated.

Next came music. I love to sing. In high school, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to take voice lessons. This honed my 4-octave range and helped me become a very solid baritone.

Then it was theatre. I loved performing on stage. But more than performing on stage as an actor, I loved being backstage. Building sets, hanging lights, and all the technical stuff excited me to no end. But more than this – I loved directing. In college, I directed a half-dozen plays, mostly one-acts. Though my major (and degree) were in theatre, this wasn’t with the theatre department.

In college, I was introduced to radio. I loved being a DJ, to the point where I helped run the 24/7 station during a summer and winter break for pay and managed all PSA production and the like my senior year.

Despite my love of the arts, I bought into false narratives, such as,

The arts don’t pay.
Artists constantly struggle.
Unless you “catch a break” you won’t succeed.
Good is never good enough – you need to be great.
You’ll never make any real money off the arts.

But the arts were in my blood, brought me tremendous joy, and felt natural and genuine to my authentic being.

Because I bought this narrative, and other statements like the above, I tried for years to hold a “real” job, work 9-5, and so on.

Not being me sucked

I look good in a suit. If I need to dress up in business attire, I wear it well.

But I dislike it thoroughly. I abhor wearing a tie. I’d much rather be in jeans than even business-casual pants. I can do button-down shirts, but I dislike ironing and prefer not to spend money on dry-cleaning.

Working 9-5 has mostly been awkward. Maybe because my first job was at McDonald’s, and I was taught to work at a super-fast pace, I’ve found in most vocations I tried, that during the 8-hour shift most of the actual work I had was complete in 4 hours. Or less.

Every work cubicle I ever had got personalized. I nest. There was art and small tchotchkes that lived in every office space I called my own over the years.

Despite this – I never managed to feel comfortable or like I belonged in such settings. It took me a long time to recognize this was because I was attempting to be something and someone that I’m not.

Corporate America and I tended to clash. The perfect example of this was a job where the boss came in and told us, “If you have an idea for anything at all, please share it!” I was naïve enough to buy this, not realizing it was corporate-speak for “I want you to see me as approachable – but don’t actually bring me any ideas.”

When I made my suggestions for improvements (such as better tracking software that didn’t waste 5 minutes because of system processing) I got on the radar. But I was now a troublemaker – and got noted for every tiny mistake and subsequently fired.

I tried more times to fit into the 9-5 admin mode. But not being true to me sucked.

Taking the plunge as an artist

In different ways, I pursued the various arts I loved. I joined a couple of different choirs so I could still sing, got involved in a medieval reenactment society in a manner that made use of my theatre skills. (Running a court for the sovereign and consort mixes producing, directing, stage managing, and acting all together). And I worked on writing fiction from time to time.

Finally, I recognized that I needed to write. It’s in my blood, this is my artistic skill that’s best developed and that brings me the most joy.

My genres are mixed. I write on numerous different nonfiction topics, such as mindfulness, conscious reality creation, positivity, and the artistic/writing process overall. But I also write sci-fi and fantasy novels.

For a long time, I attempted to go the traditional route. I sought an agent so that I might be published by a major publishing house. It was (and still is) my goal to achieve the success and notoriety of Neil Gaiman, George RR Martin, NK Jemisin, and the like.

But the nature of publishing has shifted, change, evolved – and continues to do so. Thus, I decided to go the self-publishing route.

Having a random book or two out there draws limited attention. It also doesn’t show the degree of commitment or seriousness both to myself or to my prospective audience. Thus, I set new goals, changed my approach, and did more writing than I have ever done before. It became my job.

This year I am publishing 6 novels. Presently, I’m on track to publish at least 6 more in 2022.

I am not, at present, a known quantity. I’ve yet to gain the level of exposure that takes my sales to the point of sustaining me as a good income.

Fortunately, I have some freelance gigs that help me to be able to do this. But I believe in the art that I produce – the books and blogs I write – and know this is how I am going to direct my career.

But that’s not to say it’s not risky. There are people – even friends and family – who call my sanity into question. Do you truly believe you can earn a living as a writer?

The thing is – everything in life is uncertain. Change is the one constant in the entire Universe. Apart from that – all else is questionable. You might have the most conventional, stable job today – and in the blink of an eye, it could be gone tomorrow. It might be unlikely, and improbable – but still possible.

While we seek out comfort zones and places to belong, every step you take from what you know to something less certain has risk. The only reason being an artist is riskier than being a corporate office worker is because we believe a narrative that tells us this is how it is.

Choosing to pursue art is risky because of the perception of the collective consciousness of that risk. But in truth – it’s just the same as any other choices made or not made.

The world needs artists. Writers, sculptors, painters, chefs, actors, and every other creative you can envision is needed in this world. Artists help us see and relate to the past, present, and future.

Artistic expression and creativity evolve us all. Hence why, though choosing to be an artist is risky – it’s also utterly worth it.

Thank you for being part of my ongoing journey, for joining me, and for inspiring me and my craft.

This is the one-hundred and thirteenth article exploring the ongoing creative process. Please take a moment to check out the collection of my published works, which can be found here.

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