And then life got in the way. Which is generally what happens.
Today as I got up from a day after an absolute bomb of an art fair (didn't even cover gas or the booth fee) I sat down at my computer and started clicking around.
Here's how my brain pattern went:
A display rack for a local retailer needs ordering. Twitter needs checking. Ooh, someone tweeted about Google Adwords, I better check that. My Google Adwords ad has been very badly neglected but luckily custom work keeps coming in. Would more come in if I paid more attention to it? Nope, don't have time to delve into that. Keep going. Write list of what needs to be done today. Look at clock. Click on tweet about ideal design working space. Looks like nobody works in that designing space. Oh man, the apartment needs cleaning. And picking up. I should buy more boxes to store stuff in so it's out of the way. I should really start working, I need to start scanning photos for these collages. The dog needs to go out. Oh man, I need to do as much as I can today because I have to go to work tomorrow.....and pick up that frame on my lunch for that custom piece that needs to be picked up on Tuesday....look at clock....ugh....day is moving too fast!
Hard to read? Yeah. It's hard to keep in my brain, too. If I could get up, sit at my computer and start working in a linear order, that would be great. I need to work harder on that. I'm too ADD. And (prepare for a run-on sentence) if my weekend could be my weekend instead of the time to cram in all the work that doesn't fit into a normal week because 21 hours of it is spent at a job where I spend my lunches trying to catch up with customer emails and run errands and do things so when I get home maybe I can workout and eat dinner instead of just continue to work MAYBE I wouldn't get panic attacks when someone contacts me for more work and instead would welcome it in.
I know these are all excuses. I know I am the one in charge of making a linear work pattern and I ultimately control my cases of the "ooh something shinies" that lead me to bounce around from project to project so instead of completing one item on my list I partially complete several items.
And this is the life of the single female artist trying to make ends meet. No husband, no support, just me. If I fail, I could lose my apartment, or eat less, or get calls from creditors. Luckily it hasn't gotten to that point, except the eating less part.
This is why I hit my forehead on my desk when I hear about the successful female artist who (insert awesome opportunity here) and she would've never been able to do it without the support of her husband and family.
What about those who don't have that? What do they do? Or are they just never "successful"? (Define success as making a comfortable living by the sales of their art with no outside support/job).
If anyone can point me to a book/article/story about a single female artist who eventually made their way to being a self-sufficient artist without any magic I would really appreciate it. (read: stories like once they were living out of their car and then time passed and they persevered and now they're a successful artist are annoying. What did they do? Get an agent? Get "discovered"? Diversify their art? Details!) I feel like I'm heading in the right direction but am missing something and could use a inspiring story.
And less excuses.
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