The Artist's Way

much business. An artist cannot replicate a prior success
indefinitely. Those who attempt to work too long with
formula, even their own formula, eventually leach
themselves of their creative truths. Embedded as we often
are in the business milieu of our art, it is tempting to
guarantee what we cannot deliver: good work that
duplicates the good work that has gone before.
Successful movies generate a business demand for
sequels. Successful books generate a demand for further,
similar books. Painters pass through popular periods in their
work and may be urged to linger there. For potters,
composers, choreographers, the problem is the same. As
artists, we are asked to repeat ourselves and expand on the
market we have built. Sometimes this is possible for us.
Other times it’s not.
As a successful artist, the trick is to not mortgage the
future too heavily. If the house in the Hamptons costs two
years of creative misery cranking out a promised project just
for cash, that house is an expensive luxury.
This is not to say that editors should stop planning
seasons or that studios should scuttle their business bottom
line. It is to say that the many creatives laboring in fiscal
settings should remember to commit themselves not only to
projects that smack of the sure thing but also to those riskier
projects that call to their creative souls. You don’t need to
overturn a successful career in order to find creative
fulfillment. It is necessary to overturn each day’s schedule
slightly to allow for those small adjustments in daily