A Post For A New Year

I jotted down some thoughts about the previous year in my sketchbook and I thought I'd jot them here as well. It was a remarkable year, one that could have ended badly if not for all the people who follow and appreciate my work. I think the year's theme was trial and error, I tried a number of things to see which worked. Mainly, I mean in terms of conducting business. The art seems to have it's own life, independent of my worries and practical concerns. Although, it's probably affected by it. I'm never sure until I look back at what I've done.

One big thing I've learnt is that, right now I need to be involved in both traditional forms of publishing as well as self publishing. I only self published two books last year but it was a notable help to my overall income and ability to have work visible. I plan to do more of both in the new year, starting very, very soon.

Some other stuff I learnt this is....

It's better to be good than different. Or, as Arthur Freed put it “Don’t try to be different. Just be good. To be good is different enough.” Striving to be different has gotten me nowhere. Trying to be good at what I do has been much, much productive and satisfying. I talked before about the importance of originality but I've changed my mind. There is all ready too much cleverness and ego in the world. 

Always have a plan B. This kind of goes hand in hand with my note on self publishing above. 

Have the humility to let hard lessons stick. This is in line with yesterday's post.  

Always dress well, even when you work at home. At the heart of this is that when you dress well you are always more present in any given situation. That's my experience. 

Compliments are not road signs. I am very grateful for all the kind things people say to me, I just have to be cautious not to feel like I'm doing something wrong today if people compliment something I did six months ago.