how to make $$$ & be authentic & be loved & keep going & stay happy & do everything right
not really. answering some of your questions though, including...
Making enough money as an artist to survive in this capitalist scape - HOW?
.How did you deal with rejection in the early part of your literary career? How did you keep going and keep faith in yourself and work even when agents/publishers/the industry were not seeing it for you?
Coming out of a 12-year relationship (I am 28), how to know whether a new relationship is right for me? I struggle with days of feeling fulfilled and connected; others, I want to run back to my ex. I struggle to trust or even identify my instincts, :)
How do you balance zeroing in on your authentic inner voice and consistent output of work?
How can you stay present with work? How can we balance discipline and inner peace?
How do you keep going on when you suffer from a mental illness? Sometimes it feels so hopeless to keep going on since the sadness will creep back again.
How do you cope when your love is unreciprocated?
*for accessibility, I am making the first two of these answers viewable to free subscribers
Making enough money as an artist to survive in this capitalist scape - HOW?
Ah, friend. How indeed. I was an artist from my early beginnings, and if you have read my books, you will know I have had my share of side jobs (from the mundane to the scandalous, depending on where you stand). I have enjoyed the hustle, hated it, been intrigued by it and then exhausted. I decided I wanted to do this artist thing and only this artist thing in the summer of 2014 and was putting together my last few pages of ‘bone’ while doing coat check in a London members club in the early hours of most Saturday mornings. Now, where money is concerned, things can get highly triggering. After all, one cannot survive without it. So many of us are out here alone with no one else to rely on and have been for as long as we can remember. Housing, bills, sustenance and other miscellaneous expenses eat away at our resources at an alarming rate, leaving us wondering if things will ever get better. Friend, what can I tell you? My past experiences of living below the line mean that the idea of not being able to support myself is still present, still frightening. It led to thinking outside the box, self-publishing when no one was biting, gigging/touring and doing small creativity workshops with other authors back in 2014 when no one was lining up to pay me for anything. Back then, and yes, even now, everyone expects your dwindling time for free. Of course, I want to give back, but I am only one (sometimes very pressed) person. These days, my thinking has to be full spectrum. Systems out of my control mean that I often cannot rely solely on the publishing or film worlds.
Here is the truth of it. For the past five years, I have lived in New York, a city that drains your pockets before you’ve even left the house. You have to get creative. To this end, I wholeheartedly believe in mixing commissions and a perhaps more traditional path with lots of independent artistry. I model, do paid mentorships, hold workshops, and do partnerships (as long as they don’t feel awful or in conflict with my beliefs. I learned the hard way - that’s another post entirely). I write this newsletter, and I’m not going to lie; it is work, AND these are the things that keep the lights on. Thank you, paid subscribers.
Sidenote: I find it so interesting when people criticise writers/models artists for #ads and partnerships. Like it or not, partnerships make free content possible. It is one of the ways artists with a dedicated base of supporters can support themselves and keep making all the free content they provide. Indeed more than books, where you only make a good living if your titles make the charts.
Anyway, I’ve spent ages on this question, and I fear I still may not have answered sufficiently. So, a) get creative, b) commit, c) find a side thing that isn’t too soul-destroying/compromising and doesn’t use up all your creative fire,
d) believe in your work. Trust your work, d) build it, they will come - mostly slower than is comfortable, but they will come,
e) look for examples of people doing that thing and doing it well. I hope this helps. Lord, I’m working on it myself. x
2. How did you deal with rejection in the early part of your literary career? How did you keep going and keep faith in yourself and work even when agents/publishers/the industry were not seeing it for you?
I think that my answer to q 1 covers some of this. Coming from a theatre background and being over twenty years strong in handling frequent auditions (both theatrical and in the modelling industry), I have faced and continue to meet more rejections than you would believe. Every week, sometimes daily. Most of the time, I am unfazed. That’s not to say it doesn’t get annoying, even disheartening, if I’m having a tough week. I have learned to have so much faith and love for my own ability/work/presentation that I don’t take anything too personally. If I did, I’d have long given on everything by now.
Also,
to cut a long long story short, I did it myself. You know this. No waiting for the so-called powers that be. By the time Penguin came around, I’d sold tens of thousand copies of bone all by my little self.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to the utter to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.