New here... Where do you live that you are able to do this amazing job and see the ocean from your backyard? Your life sounds idyllic and makes me envious. My obsessive question to creatives is "Do you have children?" because yes, they do take a big bite out of a creative life in my experience. But yes, children do eventually get a little more independent and you can return... (again my experience only- I know there are lots of people out there who write books and create masterpieces while mothering, I am just not one of them.) Enjoyed your essay so thanks for sharing- (which I found through Holly Whitaker's links btw).
Thanks for connecting, Catherine! I live on a farm south of San Francisco that's also a wedding venue. It's a unique place because Bay Area/Silicon Valley wealth comes in and makes idyllic places like educational farms and wedding venues "profitable" in some sense. Weird economy but makes space for little lives on the fringes of all that. Thank you for your wise words about being an artist with children. It's literally my big question in life right now.
I love you and this is brilliant. I’m not writing my book. I’m fucking around on substack when I know what I should be doing AND YET, I also consider these years of fucking around part of my practice, just the part that makes me confront the part of me that only counts certain kinds of inspired creation. I think everyone has this this question of DO YOU HAVE A JOB and how do you make this work and I think everyone has to find their own answer; I’ve never heard one artist give the same one. I wrote about 30 hours a week while I was in Italy but that doesn’t matter because yes I also totally walked around and ate. I hate panacotta. And when I’m not doing what Julia Cameron says I should be doing I cannot abide witnessing writers writing books. It hurts.
Also I know you weren’t looking for answers and I didn’t mean to answer! I just, really loved this so much. Especially the envy part, which I currently have.
!!! Thank you so much for reading and sharing a vulnerable comment. It feels like solidarity to know that we are all out here struggling in similar ways as we try to be in the world as artists and humans. Also my apologies about the panacotta thing. It just reinforces what I tried to say above about how we construct narratives around people on the internet when we feel envious, especially narratives that are critical. Deep appreciation for your work, thoughts & writing.
This...... was absolutely provoking. I don’t even know where to start, but I am so glad you wrote this.
New here... Where do you live that you are able to do this amazing job and see the ocean from your backyard? Your life sounds idyllic and makes me envious. My obsessive question to creatives is "Do you have children?" because yes, they do take a big bite out of a creative life in my experience. But yes, children do eventually get a little more independent and you can return... (again my experience only- I know there are lots of people out there who write books and create masterpieces while mothering, I am just not one of them.) Enjoyed your essay so thanks for sharing- (which I found through Holly Whitaker's links btw).
Thanks for connecting, Catherine! I live on a farm south of San Francisco that's also a wedding venue. It's a unique place because Bay Area/Silicon Valley wealth comes in and makes idyllic places like educational farms and wedding venues "profitable" in some sense. Weird economy but makes space for little lives on the fringes of all that. Thank you for your wise words about being an artist with children. It's literally my big question in life right now.
This was beautiful 💫🌙✨
Thank you!
I love you and this is brilliant. I’m not writing my book. I’m fucking around on substack when I know what I should be doing AND YET, I also consider these years of fucking around part of my practice, just the part that makes me confront the part of me that only counts certain kinds of inspired creation. I think everyone has this this question of DO YOU HAVE A JOB and how do you make this work and I think everyone has to find their own answer; I’ve never heard one artist give the same one. I wrote about 30 hours a week while I was in Italy but that doesn’t matter because yes I also totally walked around and ate. I hate panacotta. And when I’m not doing what Julia Cameron says I should be doing I cannot abide witnessing writers writing books. It hurts.
Also I know you weren’t looking for answers and I didn’t mean to answer! I just, really loved this so much. Especially the envy part, which I currently have.
!!! Thank you so much for reading and sharing a vulnerable comment. It feels like solidarity to know that we are all out here struggling in similar ways as we try to be in the world as artists and humans. Also my apologies about the panacotta thing. It just reinforces what I tried to say above about how we construct narratives around people on the internet when we feel envious, especially narratives that are critical. Deep appreciation for your work, thoughts & writing.
Don’t be it was really funny lol, just walking around eating panacotta 😭 truly important element. You’re a great writer.