Inspirational Creatives
What writers can learn from other freelancers
The Saturday Brunch: a figurative flat white or fizzy to start your weekend
Setting out on a journey as a lone writer…and hoping to make a living from it…can be a strange and difficult undertaking. A lot of times we think of the purity of writing as a sort of sanctimonious act not to be meddled with. Words like marketing, self-promotion, office hours, freelance work, and growth at first may seem like disconnects from the journey of writing.
Some do keep writing as a completely separate space from these things and - somehow - find ‘success’ (whatever that may mean to that particular author). But writing as a living is, for most people, also freelance work. Even if your written work is ‘only’ in book form, there is a lot to do behind the scenes to publish and sell, whether one is publishing on one’s own or with the aid of an agent and/or publisher.
But many of us also make writing into a business. The books or articles themselves can be a business. However, many work beyond these boundaries, either for enjoyment or out of financial necessity and as a way to develop a writer-brand (which hopefully comes with an audience). For some, this means blogging and newsletters; for others, it’s content creation; for more still, it’s a business related to writing like workshops or editing services. In a different category, one might also consider freelance writers who complement something else (teaching painting classes, running an organic farm, tech coaching, etc.) with writing. The writing may promote the ‘something else’ or it may play with ideas and concepts related to the work.
In any case, it takes a lot of patience and determination to publish your work and to create with the hope of making something people will want (to read, to eat, to use…).
For this reason, I find looking to many types of creators for inspiration a way to stay motivated and focused with my work. Although reading about the stories of other writers is interesting and can be useful on my own journey, just looking at writers might be limiting. Here, I’ll share with you a few creative people who inspire me to continue…even if I’m still not exactly sure what I’m working toward (although things have evolved a ton since I wrote the article below).
There are so many ways to be creative. I really loved the book Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear (2015) by Elizabeth Gilbert. I’m not a huge fan of Eat Pray Love, but City of Girls is also a fantastic novel. Gilbert doesn’t get enough credit as a literary writer. Although one might not consider the ideas to be deep in this creativity book, the way Gilbert shows us how almost anything we do in life can be creative or enhanced by creativity is a pretty cool way to think about living. The creativity in her book becomes a spiritual journey.
So, if you’re embarking on a ‘creative career’ (although Gilbert would argue any career can and should be creative!), I recommend checking out the book. It’s a pretty quick read. Some of it might feel trite or cheesy. Still, I think there are moments of wisdom or - at a minimum - springboards for self discovery like this one:
“Do whatever brings you to life, then. Follow your own fascinations, obsessions, and compulsions. Trust them. Create whatever causes a revolution in your heart.”
Relatedly, I recently read the novel Tell Me I’m an Artist, by Chelsea Martin, which fits into the whole ‘what’s creativity for’ discourse. Do you know of other related books or films that try to answer this question or at least grapple with it?
If you’re also on this path like me, especially as a freelancer, you might likewise find some of the following people inspirational. I’m going to highlight three today and three more in a couple weeks. Please let us know who else inspires you!
Violette
Violette Serrat is a makeup artist who took a risk to grow into something big. She didn’t take the classic root into the world of makeup and fashion. Instead, she threw herself into creative spaces in New York (without even knowing much English) and Paris, and experienced a huge amount of rejection in the four years she gave herself to make something of it.
I love this advice of giving yourself a certain amount of time, often determined by finances but also willpower, to make a go of your creative endeavor. Probably, at least in my experience, the goals and work will change a lot over that time in ways you don’t anticipate. I’ve heard other freelancers also talk about taking away the pressure of making money right from the start in order to develop something better.
Violette demonstrates an intrigue and awareness of history and culture as she talks about makeup, from the origins of Guerlin and the first lipsticks to a discussion of red lipstick on Parisian women as “empowering.”
She describes the more recent launch of her own brand in 2021 as an “18 year dream.” Violette says her makeup company is “For the people who were more interested in celebrating individuality and differences rather than fixating on trends.” She goes further on the brand’s about page to say:
VIOLETTE_FR was created to encourage you to have fun with makeup, laugh at yourself, seduce yourself, and most importantly, believe with all of your heart in your own je ne sais quoi. Because that is what makes you unique, that is what makes you YOU and you all are my muses.
VIOLETTE_FR was made for you... avec amour.
One could say this is simply good marketing. But if you follow Violette enough on her social media, interviews, and newsletters, the message truly comes across. She must believe it to have it make such an impact in this way.
Relatedly in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar, Violette speaks of her work as creative director at Guerlin:
My beauty philosophy is that beauty should be something you use to celebrate yourself. Your differences. Your uniqueness. Beauty should be something that helps you take care of yourself. I think beauty can be used as a mind and body wellness tool too. That’s why my three words would be uniqueness, celebration and wellness.
As any kind of creator, we can also embody this uniqueness. It’s the same individuality that can give us imposter syndrome, but when embraced becomes the substance of our work.
I subscribe to Violette’s newsletter for a weekly infusion of her ideas. Sure, it’s got some information about her products. But it’s also a very personal letter about balancing work with family, about believing in oneself, about helping other people feel good in their skin.
Takeaways: give yourself space and time to make something work; don’t worry about the normal path of getting somewhere; create something you feel proud of.
Lizzo
There’s something about the chutzpah of using a single first name to brand yourself. One could place Madonna or Bono on this list as well as these two women for different reasons.
Née Melissa Viviane Jefferson, Lizzo started her professional music career as a hip hop artist in Minneapolis, which is, among other things music-related, the home of Prince. I’m not particularly a fan of Lizzo’s music (I’m not against it either), but she first caught my eye as someone really unique during that ‘magic flute’ performance at the Library of Congress, playing James Madison’s crystal flute:
I’m sure a lot of people had discovered her remarkableness before! Maybe living outside the country had distracted me. In any case, it would have been hard to miss another recent big Lizzo moment at the Grammys.
Sure, the Grammys have a ton of issues about representation and diversity as well as sometimes simply not being in tune with the best music out there. But Lizzo has a cool message and makes people want to sing with her.
The acceptance speech she gave when “About Damn Time” won Record of the Year had a beautiful message and was well articulated; it was both charismatic and from the heart:
“When we lost Prince I decided to dedicate my life to making positive music…..Feel-good music wasn’t mainstream at that point and I felt very misunderstood.
“I stayed true to myself because I wanted to make the world a better place so I had to be that change to make the world a better place. And now I look around and there’s all these songs that are about loving our bodies and feeling comfortable in our skin and feeling f***ing good and I’m just so proud to be a part of it because in a world that is a lot of darkness and a lot of scary sh*t. I’d like to believe that not only can people do good, but we just are good, we are good inherently.
“And anybody at home who feels misunderstood or on the outside looking in like I did, just stay true to yourself because I promise you, you will find people, you will attract people in your life who believe in you and support you.”
Lizzo’s message is one that we can all use. We can try to do something good for the world, however small it might seem. We can be a part of a movement of others also reflecting and contributing to the good of humanity.
Takeaway: create something you think will make the world a better place.
David Bowie
Ok, so I’m putting a second singer on this list today, but really Bowie was much more than a singer. In 2018, I went to see a retrospective posthumous show about him and his work at The Brooklyn Museum (originally organized by London’s V&A): “David Bowie is.” I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I mean, I was anticipating music and maybe some stage costumes, which we definitely got.
But beyond this, the show explored Bowie as a multi-media creator and someone who was constantly pushing boundaries. I found the relationship he had with the Japanese fashion designer Kansai Yamamoto to be especially interesting as well as innovative ideas begun in childhood like the “cut-up technique.”
By listening to interviews with Bowie, we can learn a lot about creativity and human nature. He never seemed to be afraid to be himself, although perhaps he was simply propelled by that fear, knowing it was something that should be listened to and potentially crossed.
“Never work for other people….Always remember that the reason you initially started working was that there was something inside your soul, that you felt if you could manifest it in some way, you would understand more about yourself and you encourage this for the rest of society.”
-David Bowie
He also discusses the idea “not to feel safe” in the work that you’re doing. That if you are, then you’re not doing the right things, not pushing your boundaries enough. He talks about this in relation to haircuts to start. In the film, he also discusses his work as a painter.
There are many quotes we can take from Bowie to learn from; often, they also show his humility. I think my favorite quote from him must be the following for its reminder to be bold and courageous as we live, love, and create each day:
“I don’t think I ever felt that life was very long. It was certainly no surprise to me that I got old. I don’t know if that’s a good or a bad thing, but I was always terribly aware of its finiteness, and I always believed that if we only have this one life, then let’s experiment with it.” —The Telegraph, 1996
Seemingly everything in the way he lived his life was an artistic manifestation. Maybe this meant he never felt ‘safe’, but then that can mean he felt alive, constantly, through experimenting and creating.
*Here’s a beautiful photographic retrospective recently published in The Guardian.
Takeaway: creating is life…expand your world and others’ by making something new.
What can you learn as a creator from these three people? Who inspires you?
Brilliant post, Kate. So much food for thought. The Bowie video. He’s just... 💥
Thank you Kate! Many things resonate with me and other truly inspire me! What a good start for a Saturday!