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If It’s Your Calling, It Will Keep Calling You
5 years ago
General
Stuff happened. It knocked me off my groove, and I have remained in a state of being off my groove for several years now. And like somebody dangling off a rope trying desperately to scramble back up, I’ve been twisting in the wind, trying one thing after another to get something—anything—to work. It’s kept my head above water… mostly… but it has not led to success. And it has definitely not led to satisfaction.
But a few days ago, I happened on a tweet, nearly swamped in all the World Being So Much With Us right now, but that jumped out at me like an electric spark.
If it’s your calling, it will keep calling you.
I have ADHD. I can hyperfocus for bursts, but repeated, sustained effort is often difficult for me to maintain. But in all the noise, chaos, new shiny things to chase, and so on, there are two things that keep calling me: art and writing, writing and art. They wax and wane seasonally—I’m usually way more into art in the warm months and way more into writing when it’s colder—but they’re both always there.
And my groove, the happiest and most successful times in my life, also coincided with the times that I was most in touch with those. Suburban Jungle is still my high mark of both sustained personal satisfaction and success in terms of reaching an audience. The one thing it never provided, was a livable income, and that in turn led to me believing that making a living with my writing and art was not possible, and so I’ve spent the past several years trying with little success trying to find a way to make a livable income doing anything else, and being miserable while I was doing it.
Well, I hereby surrender that fight.
I am an artist and writer. That’s the alpha and omega, the sum total of who and what I am, and from here forward anything I do is going to be in service of that. There are people who make their living this way. I know some of them. It can be done. And if it can be done, I can do it, I just need to figure out how.
I need to figure out workflow. I need to figure out finding gigs and building (or re-building) an audience. I need to refocus on honing my craft, which stagnated somewhere.
But mostly I need to remember my mission, every day.
I make my living as an artist/illustrator and a writer, creating fun and engaging work that brings people joy and makes them feel seen and connected. That’s what keeps calling me, and I’m going to answer, again and again.
But a few days ago, I happened on a tweet, nearly swamped in all the World Being So Much With Us right now, but that jumped out at me like an electric spark.
If it’s your calling, it will keep calling you.
I have ADHD. I can hyperfocus for bursts, but repeated, sustained effort is often difficult for me to maintain. But in all the noise, chaos, new shiny things to chase, and so on, there are two things that keep calling me: art and writing, writing and art. They wax and wane seasonally—I’m usually way more into art in the warm months and way more into writing when it’s colder—but they’re both always there.
And my groove, the happiest and most successful times in my life, also coincided with the times that I was most in touch with those. Suburban Jungle is still my high mark of both sustained personal satisfaction and success in terms of reaching an audience. The one thing it never provided, was a livable income, and that in turn led to me believing that making a living with my writing and art was not possible, and so I’ve spent the past several years trying with little success trying to find a way to make a livable income doing anything else, and being miserable while I was doing it.
Well, I hereby surrender that fight.
I am an artist and writer. That’s the alpha and omega, the sum total of who and what I am, and from here forward anything I do is going to be in service of that. There are people who make their living this way. I know some of them. It can be done. And if it can be done, I can do it, I just need to figure out how.
I need to figure out workflow. I need to figure out finding gigs and building (or re-building) an audience. I need to refocus on honing my craft, which stagnated somewhere.
But mostly I need to remember my mission, every day.
I make my living as an artist/illustrator and a writer, creating fun and engaging work that brings people joy and makes them feel seen and connected. That’s what keeps calling me, and I’m going to answer, again and again.
Uh.....
Did you read The Reclamation Project? Year Two submissions are open and that could use some plugging.
You can achieve your dreams, as I achieved mine, but, sometimes, it takes longer than you expect and can happen unexpectedly and in a way you never dreamed of.
Three words: Go for it!
It took me until 2011 to finally find the ONE THING that I could do that satisfied both the left and right brain parts of me, and I have been grateful for it, ever since.
Keep doing what you love.
You can be the marketing guy! ;)
the only thing that keeps coming back to me is being used by people, abused, then discarded... everything else I have tried to do has turned into a fart in a windstorm
But, if I may make a suggestion, selling swag on the side is easier than before, with a whole host of places that allow you to upload images for them to make T-shirts, mousepads, mugs, buttons, and a whole lot more, without you having to do much at all.
I have some T-shirts I am very proud of owning, and would love to have more for the collection! =^.^=
I do need to up my merchandise game, it's floundered a bit. Without the Human Hurricane of Mammallamadevil in my corner, that's been harder to do.
The trouble (that I currently know about) is actually making the image high enough resolution, and then publishing the link widely enough so people can find it...
Speaking of, there's a subscribers-only post on my Patreon I'd be curious to get your thoughts on. :)
And yea, I have had the clarion call of creativity resoundingly ringing in my ears for several seasons, and, like you, I have been under the unfortunate umbrage of understanding that it makes minuscule monies. I need to fix that soon. Just have to rack my remarkable brains for this.