NFS

Writing is something I'll always feel grateful to have as a profession. The best part about the job I have at present is that I've been able to simply write; I'm not required to do anything else. Being able to work remotely is a privilege; I'm very fortunate to be able to do all my work at home. I also know how lucky I am to be able to make a living as a writer. To get by most of my peers have to work a day job doing something else.

I don't mind selling my writing, either. What I create is art, but also something I intend to be sold to and enjoyed by others. Knowing that allows me to avoid becoming too emotionally attached to my work. While just like any form of art my writing requires a lot of thought and creativity, in the end it becomes a product.

I've been a textile artist almost as long as I've been a writer, but I don't create textile art as a product for a couple of reasons. I'm not skilled or fast enough to produce the number of marketable pieces I'd need to make a living. I might try to improve and speed up my process, but I don't want to sell what I sew, embroider or quilt. I do this for me, and I have an intensely emotional attachment to my art.

The dichotomy between my work art and my personal art may not make sense, but as a creative person I need both to balance out my life. I would love to spend every day doing what I want and not worrying about selling it, but then someone else would have to financially support me. I don't judge anyone who works that way, but I'd never be comfortable with that. I also know I couldn't create all day every day making nothing but products to be sold. I need something for myself, something that allows me to express things that aren't always marketable or even appealing to anyone but me.

For me it works, and that's what matters in a creative life: finding what does.