How to Balance Your Hustle with Your Art Practice
A newsletter about writing, art and living more creatively
Welcome to the new year! I'm excited to chat with some cool people for the newsletter in the coming weeks. FYI: I'm changing this newsletter to once a month. So you can expect it in your inbox every third Thursday of the month. And they'll be more jam-packed with reading recs and such ;)
I'm making this change because I want to start 2020 with realistic expectations of how much I can take on — and I primarily want to give myself time to work on my manuscript this year.
Speaking of which! For this month's newsletter, I chatted with Taylor Linn about balancing a full-time gig with creative work. Hope you enjoy!
Tell us a little about what you do, both your day job and creative practice.
I'm a Marketing and Community Manager in San Francisco, with experience in fashion e-commerce and the sharing industry. By night, I am a writer, a multimedia artist, and a photographer. I work in many physical mediums, including charcoal and pencil drawing, plus oil, acrylic, and watercolor painting. During my past three years in San Francisco, with limited space for a studio and materials, I transitioned more to digital media, focusing on photography and digital art.
How do you schedule in time for your evening work? Do you work a lot on the weekends too?
Luckily for me, the only hard deadline for creative projects is Cosmic Content, my lifestyle trend watch newsletter. I spend every Sunday evening writing and curating the content that my subscribers will read on Monday morning. I have been working on this project for over two months now, so it has become an ingrained Sunday habit for me.
I don’t tend to schedule in my creative time blocks because I get random spurts of inspiration to work on those creative projects. Once I start working I enter a complete flow state. In the past if I wasn’t in a productive mood, it felt like I was working against myself. It is physically and emotionally painful for me. Rather than try to change myself, I realize that this is how I work. When I get the desire to work, I lean into it and complete as much as I feel at the time. I often come home after a full day of work feeling compelled to write, and I will spend an extra 3-4 hours on a Medium article.
I've seen this meme go around about monetizing your hobbies/passions and it's funny but so true. How do you maintain a creative practice without thinking of it needing to make you money or be seen by others necessarily?
This meme is too real for me, because I do not outright sell any of my personal creative work. To combat that feeling of needing to monetize everything I do, I keep a running list of my accomplishments. When six of my photos were published in Harness Magazine Issue V, I was absolutely ecstatic. The "small" act of putting myself out there with a single submission still feels big and worthy of celebration every single time. Having others say they appreciate my art or writing is enough for me.
What are some tools you use to stay organized?
Purple is my favorite color, and I have an awesome purple Caboodles case that I adore for organizing all of my painting and drawing supplies! I love that it is relatively small, lightweight, and has a handle.
I use a project management tool called Quire to keep track of my variety of projects. I like to divide tasks with the Kanban view with multiple small lists side-by-side. I organize tasks by how far along they are to completion:
Thank you for your time, Taylor! Let me know your thoughts on monetizing hobbies/balancing full-time work with creative gigs.
xoxo
Your favorite small but feisty writer
Eva
PS If you missed the downloadable wallpapers available so far, click here.
Banner design by Ludi Leiva ✨
Recent Work
Yuko Nishikawa
I talked to the ceramic artist about her process, creative salon and home/studio spaces. Photo by Chloe Berk.
Memphis Design
A quick history of Memphis Design. photo: Dennis Zanone/Wikimedia Commons
Hollywood Regency
A quick history of Hollywood Regency decor style and a look at its major elements.
What I'm Reading
Articles:
Your Book Might Not Sell, and You Have to Live With That
8 Women Share the Thing They Wish They Had Known Before Getting Laid Off
Inspired by Nipsey Hussle, They're trying to "Buy Back" South LA
56 Books by Women and NB Writers of Color to Read in 2020
Matt Berninger on Patience (an oldie but goodie)
Blood Oranges (a really beautiful non-fiction essay)
On No Longer Being a Hysterical Woman (TW: suicidal ideation)
Building Up to Emerging: Tips for Applying to Fellowships, Residencies and Workshops
Books:
She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement (non-fiction)
My Year of Rest and Relaxation (fiction) by Ottessa Moshfegh // Kinda strange but entertaining? I don't want to ruin it but just FYI could be triggering re: mental health/grief
Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good (non-fiction) by adrienne maree brown
What I'm Listening To:
Hidden Brain: Creatures of Habit // a good look at habit-forming and breaking
Oprah's Supersoul Conversations: Faith, The Two-Legged Dog // a super cute and emotional episode re: dogs + pets
Opportunities of the Month
Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices
Application due Feb 3
More info here.
Artist in Residence Program at Bandelier National Monument
Application due March 31
More info here.
Idyllwild Arts Writers Week (I did this!)
Deadline for fellowships: Feb 18
More info here.
UCross Residency Program (Dance/Music, Visual Arts, Screenwriting, etc)
Application due March 1
More info here.
Kweli Color of Children's Literature Conference
Application due Feb 2
More info here.
Quote of the Month
"I needed time to think about the larger stories right, that thing that I was trying to get the reader to focus on, rather than a plot and rather than just a personal narrative."
— Jaquira Díaz
Read more here
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