We’re continuing to draw prompts from the Hobbit, and today’s prompt is…
TEN MINUTE ARTIST PROMPT
T - Troll
"Mutton yesterday, mutton today, and blimey, if it don't look like mutton again tomorrer.
One of the first dangers on Bilbo’s adventure was the meeting of 3 trolls longing for something different to eat. Here we get to draw the trolls, their discontent, and this iconic scene.
One of the questions we’ll be exploring on Day 2 of this month’s Creative Sprint is: How to handle the unpredictable nature of creative income? I’ll share what has worked well and what did not go as well. Along with a big insight I’ve had in this area!
How do you currently handle the unpredictable nature of creative income? What strategies have worked or failed?
But here’s a quick thought on handling the unpredictable nature of creative income.
Swap your expectations.
The trade off in doing creative work is greater time flexibility with less certainty. With a salaried job you get some measure or illusion of certainty with less time flexibility.
The real struggle is expecting creative work to yield certain results in the financial sense. Said another way, we expect the pattern of a creative job, to align with the pattern of a salaried job. And that is just not the case.
Do we want mutton every day, or adventure?
I’ll leave you with a question that has invigorated how I think about money and the creative practice.
What if we could embrace the uncertainty rather than fight against it, how would that change your approach?
PS: I’m looking forward to discussing this topic of money as a creative person with you in the Creative Sprint so if you’re not yet a paid subscriber, I’d love for you to upgrade so we can take this conversation deeper. Upgrading will put you in the Sprint and give you all the things. I hope to see you there!
