There are some occupations (artist, author, founder, scientist, etc.) that are popular forms of escapism because they look so self-actualized. From the outside, it looks like:
1. They only work on what they like.
2. Their work exists for its own sake, not to accomplish some other motive (e.g. the painter's paintings exist to be enjoyed as paintings. It's not graphic design, which exists to sell something else.)
In practice, that's usually not true. A founder deals with compliance forms, a novelist only writes a vampire book because that's what the market wants, and the scientist applied for 27 research grants this year.
When it comes to work, humans seem to need to believe that perfection exists, that there is a situation in which all of our problems would be solved.
I've been lucky enough to have had multiple situations where I reached the exact career goal I set a few years prior. The career that seemed like the situation where all problems would be solved. I was (and continue to be) happy with my career, but as soon as you live in yesteryear's idealized reality, you realize that even within that exist some annoying things and you idealize the next thing.
I saw a cartoon that captured this pretty well; a pianist who looks pensive, thinking "I don't enjoy this at all". The caption is something like "how to know you're a professional".
Everybody runs this risk, but "creative" jobs probably more so. Not being able to enjoy what you're doing even if you're successful. It may be because there's always a pressure to improve. But it could also be because the inner motivation that used to drive you has been replaced with external rewards. C. Thi Nguyen calls it "value capture".
I agree with the author's friend in that it's up to each of us to find creativity, it must come from within.
So what? Yes, when you acheived your dream, you need a different dream. That is not a fundamentally bad thing right? The fact that you find your current "dream" reality annoying is a sign that you have become and yes it is okay to dream again but that doesn't mean your previous dream was wrong or faulty or unrealistic.
Thinking perfection as a real thing to achieve is not good but striving an ideal version of you is how you grow. Your ideal version changes as you grow its natural.
a novelist only writes a vampire book because that's what the market wants
Not exactly. If you're in it for the money, don't be an artist (because it's not very effective). Having established that you're not in it for the money, don't slavishly follow the market, what's the point of that? But respect your audience, of course, and try to get them to part with their money on your terms, which is the fun of the whole thing and why you're not working in real estate instead.
Many working novelists have described being pressured by their publishers to write whatever the publisher believes will sell, and many have given in to the pressure because ultimately they need to eat. Arthur Conan Doyle famously kept writing Sherlock Holmes stories despite hating it, because the public and his publishers demanded it. The foreword to Ursula K. Le Guin's A Wizard Of Earthsea talks about how she was convinced to write a children's/YA book despite not really wanting to.
The post you're replying to maybe overstated things, but was much closer to reality than your post.
"Hating", no. He wanted to write books like The White Company. He could have done! But Holmes was more popular, so he asked a higher price, got paid, and continued with the Holmes. This is like a dialog with the public. It's not that he had instructions such as now make Holmes a vampire and was compelled to obey. The level of his obedience to the public was modulated by his level of liking money. Less money and more freedom was an option. I can't find the Le Guin foreword, but I wonder in what way she was convinced.
But anyway, no, you are not on rails in your creative "job", and it is self-directed, unless you think you're compelled to make X amount of money and thus have no choice but to write loathed vampire books, without even the option to go and work more happily in a factory.
Comments
There are some occupations (artist, author, founder, scientist, etc.) that are popular forms of escapism because they look so self-actualized. From the outside, it looks like:
1. They only work on what they like.
2. Their work exists for its own sake, not to accomplish some other motive (e.g. the painter's paintings exist to be enjoyed as paintings. It's not graphic design, which exists to sell something else.)
In practice, that's usually not true. A founder deals with compliance forms, a novelist only writes a vampire book because that's what the market wants, and the scientist applied for 27 research grants this year.
When it comes to work, humans seem to need to believe that perfection exists, that there is a situation in which all of our problems would be solved.
I've been lucky enough to have had multiple situations where I reached the exact career goal I set a few years prior. The career that seemed like the situation where all problems would be solved. I was (and continue to be) happy with my career, but as soon as you live in yesteryear's idealized reality, you realize that even within that exist some annoying things and you idealize the next thing.
I saw a cartoon that captured this pretty well; a pianist who looks pensive, thinking "I don't enjoy this at all". The caption is something like "how to know you're a professional".
Everybody runs this risk, but "creative" jobs probably more so. Not being able to enjoy what you're doing even if you're successful. It may be because there's always a pressure to improve. But it could also be because the inner motivation that used to drive you has been replaced with external rewards. C. Thi Nguyen calls it "value capture".
I agree with the author's friend in that it's up to each of us to find creativity, it must come from within.
So what? Yes, when you acheived your dream, you need a different dream. That is not a fundamentally bad thing right? The fact that you find your current "dream" reality annoying is a sign that you have become and yes it is okay to dream again but that doesn't mean your previous dream was wrong or faulty or unrealistic.
Thinking perfection as a real thing to achieve is not good but striving an ideal version of you is how you grow. Your ideal version changes as you grow its natural.
Not exactly. If you're in it for the money, don't be an artist (because it's not very effective). Having established that you're not in it for the money, don't slavishly follow the market, what's the point of that? But respect your audience, of course, and try to get them to part with their money on your terms, which is the fun of the whole thing and why you're not working in real estate instead.
Ah yes, just be independently wealthy.
Many working novelists have described being pressured by their publishers to write whatever the publisher believes will sell, and many have given in to the pressure because ultimately they need to eat. Arthur Conan Doyle famously kept writing Sherlock Holmes stories despite hating it, because the public and his publishers demanded it. The foreword to Ursula K. Le Guin's A Wizard Of Earthsea talks about how she was convinced to write a children's/YA book despite not really wanting to.
The post you're replying to maybe overstated things, but was much closer to reality than your post.
"Hating", no. He wanted to write books like The White Company. He could have done! But Holmes was more popular, so he asked a higher price, got paid, and continued with the Holmes. This is like a dialog with the public. It's not that he had instructions such as now make Holmes a vampire and was compelled to obey. The level of his obedience to the public was modulated by his level of liking money. Less money and more freedom was an option. I can't find the Le Guin foreword, but I wonder in what way she was convinced.
But anyway, no, you are not on rails in your creative "job", and it is self-directed, unless you think you're compelled to make X amount of money and thus have no choice but to write loathed vampire books, without even the option to go and work more happily in a factory.
What if you're an artist who enjoys creating your own art, but also, you need to pay rent?
one for me
one for the rent