Happy New Year, friends. I was curious about how many blog posts I wrote in 2016 – answer: 52. This is the part where everyone says, “I plan to write much more this year,” and yeah, I do. But I also hate saying that, like I didn’t live up to some expectation that I had in my head last year. But I didn’t have that expectation for myself. The weird thing was that I’ve thought about wanting to write more often a lot, but I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to say given my 2016 Word of the Year. So, I just didn’t! But I’m starting to have more things that I want to share, beginning with why I think it’s felt kind of hard for me to write in a space that I used to show up in five days a week.
When I first started my blog on Blogspot in 2009 under the title Inward Facing Girl, that was what it was. I was looking within myself to try to find my way back to writing creatively again. I met my goal and then some with that blog. My lifelong obsession with writing had a home. Then I decided that I wanted to use blogging as part of my business. I taught myself graphic design and photography so I could make my and others websites and messaging beautiful. This space became an entirely different animal as I branched out and started sharing my words in other publications and for other people as they were learning to express and share their businesses and creations with the world through social media.
Eventually I started to realize that while I was blending things that I loved (art, graphic design, photography, writing) and the things that I had professional experience in (marketing strategy) in a way that was useful to others, it wasn’t really making me that happy. I mean, there are parts of it that I enjoyed of course, but overall I wasn’t expressing myself creatively. I was using my creativity to help others express themselves. While it seemed like it would be a more lucrative career path if I really went all in and made that my thing, I never had it in me to do it. I couldn’t whittle down my interests and commit to pursuing that one thing. At the time I felt like I was truly interested in “doing all the things.”
2016 was the year that I officially embraced my identity as an artist. I looked back at my life and traced my creative history to see where it came from. And while I wholeheartedly gave at least 100% of my effort to becoming this version of myself in 2016, the year was not without struggle. Far from it. But I learned SO MUCH last year. I developed my style and kicked up my skills a zillion percent. And I’m proud of that! I sold a lot of art and products, to me at least, and those successes gave me another sign that I am on the right path.
When I create art I am in flow. I’ve found my one creative thing that I’m willing to commit to. And if I’m going to make this commitment, then 2017 is the year that I absolutely must focus on my art as a business. And honestly, it wouldn’t have made sense for me to start doing that any earlier than I am right now. While my style and projects will continue to evolve over time, I only reached the spot where I was feeling consistently proud of the work that I was doing near the middle of last year. The images that I was creating on my canvas or watercolor paper matched the ones that were inside my head. I was happy with them, I was getting positive feedback when I shared them, and people were buying them.
My 2017 Word of the Year is EARN.
This morning I painted a pink semi-homage to Andy Warhol’s dollar sign paintings for my vision board alongside the word EARN, also in pink. By making money pretty and talking about it upfront I’m decreasing my own fears and concerns around it. I’m not concerned with what people will think about my declaration to focus on making money from my art. Just because I enjoy doing something doesn’t mean I don’t deserve to be compensated for it, and compensated well! I mean, there are surgeons who love their jobs, right? Nobody questions their right to earn a living from it. My fears have always revolved around scarcity. And quite honestly, I’ve put myself in many bad financial situations. But this is the year I start digging myself out. And I’m going to use my paintbrush to do it.
And the answer to why I feel like I haven’t been writing here as much? Well, I think that I’ve always known how to help other people share their stories and their talents and businesses with others. But now I’m turning all of that knowledge and experience toward myself. And it’s weird! I mean, I did it before when I was concentrating on marketing strategy and creative services for other businesses, but I like I said…I didn’t feel personally invested in that. I never felt “all in” before. And now I do. So, now I tend to write stories about my work and myself in my head…which doesn’t really do either of us any good, right?
Lots of love to you in 2017. I really am planning on being here more often. You can also find me on Instagram every day.
Thank you for supporting my art and sharing my work.
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