“The most difficult thing in life is to know yourself.” —Thales
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You’re asked to share about yourself and your creative work. You start to write a blurb for a proposal or prepare for an interview. You realize you don’t understand yourself and what you do as well as you thought.
Answer these 5 questions as honestly as you can. Hopefully, you’ll understand yourself and your creative work better. And perhaps, you’ll recognize changes you need to make.
5 Questions:
1. What are your motives in pursuing your creative work?
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Check all the motives that apply and then rank them:
- Express yourself
- Entertain others
- Shock people
- Teach principles
- Gain notoriety
- Help others
- Offer audiences better than what’s on the market
- Make a statement
- Share truths
- Make lots of money
- Provide for your/family needs
- Obey a call
- Please someone other than a normal fan
- Provide yourself a hobby
- Show off your knowledge or talent
- Enhance your non-creative work
- Relate with others
- Keep your job
- Impress others
- Other
Look at your top few and understand why you do what you do.
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2. What are you doing, and what do you really want to do?
- Be on the cutting edge. Fads. (Chicklit, black-velvet paintings, Disco dances)
- Perform short-term creative activities (decorated cakes, Sunday school activities, magazine articles)
- Perform long-term creative activities (books, gallery work, speaking tours)
- Reach local market
- Reach National/worldwide market
- Reach a small niche
- Obtain successful sales
- Obtain bestselling status
- Produce Classics/masterpieces (over centuries)
- Other
Understand where you are and where you’re headed, considering the work and sacrifices.
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3. What do you envision someone in your audience doing MOST of the time while they experience your work?
- Crying
- Choking up
- Laughing
- Smiling
- Sighing
- Stewing
- Steaming
- Judging
- Reminiscing
- Imagining
- Dreaming
- Hoping
- Agreeing/Disagreeing
- Thinking
- Ah-ha-ing
- Thrilling
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- Fearing
- Trembling
- Worrying
- Learning
- Growing
- Envisioning
- Relaxing
- Delighting
- Stopping the experience
- Other
Understand what it is you’re trying to do for your audience.
4. What have others said about your creative work? Recall what you’ve heard formally or casually from:
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- Family and friends
- Reviewers
- Supervisors
- Classmates in creative workshops
- Social Media
- Contest Judges
- Creative colleagues in your field
- Other
Understand how others see you and your work.
5. How would you describe improvements in you and your work? Also, are your answers to the above questions different today than they would’ve been five years ago?
- Your work is more about what your audience’s wants than what you want.
- Your work leads your audience to what you wish to convey rather than being simply a creation.
- Your work receives positive comments that come in sentences, instead of single words, such as “Nice” or “Awesome!”
- Your work shows you know the principles of good craft.
- You want to rework, hide, or retract your first works.
- You enjoy seeking ways to make your work better.
- You study the works of others in your field.
- Other
When you understand how you and your work have improved, you realize you’re the artist you think you are.
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- Someone wants to know the essence of your creative career. Maybe that someone is you.
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What do you tell people about you and your creative work?
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I don’t say as much as I used to, realizing most people only want a one sentence statement, if that much. When I’m asked, I give a bare-bones answer. I think the change comes from not caring so much about or pleasing others. Rather, I simply want to do what I feel I am created to do, and do it to the best of my ability.
Jane, I think as long as we are in tune with our audience’s expectations, we don’t need to please others for the sake of doing so, as you say. If we do agree to interviews, I think it helps to understand ourselves and our work.
I’m catching up on blog reading… the first thing that came to my mind besides believing God calls me to write… is I write because I can’t not write…
LoRee, I know that feeling. Thus, as we explore our calling into relationship with God, we can be in tune to what He wishes us to write and to whom.
Before I started my first novel, I asked God to give me the words to write that would heal hurting people. I want to develop characters and stories to have depth. And seeking the Lord is the only way I can do that.