I’ve been thinking a lot about how to be more honest about the murkier parts of being a newly published author while still working towards other creative projects and goals. I think so much of the mainstream idea of what a writer is relates to this notion as art being a product of personal enlightenment in a chaotic world; when it reality, the journey as a new author feels like continuing to search for enlightenment no matter what milestones I reach.
As James Baldwin stated in his conversation with Maya Angelou (a must-watch if you haven’t seen it).
It is not possible for an artist to be a success. Once you figure yourself as a guess, you are finished… You begin to take your identity from other people.
On Navigating Uncertainty As A New Author