Novels—Are they art?

I know a lot of writers, including me, who want to believe that what they write is art, as much as it is science fiction, romance, thriller, or what have you. What makes something art and not just a job? I’ve often wondered about that.
In my recent reading I came across a quote from poet William Stafford. “An artist is a person who makes the decisions about the work the artist is doing. If you give that away it’s not art.” I’ve pondered that statement for a long time.
Since I write a lot of poetry, and get it published, I notice that the only editing that goes on, most often, has to do with misspellings. Poetry is art. I make all the decisions. I may ask a friend for an opinion, but I make all the decisions.
Novels, on the other hand, are a little different. I make all the decisions…at first. Then it goes through a series of processes: first readers, editors, proof readers. My first readers tell me where the writing gets too slow for them, where the writing gets them confused, where the action overshadows the character, and where the character development overshadows the plot, and all kinds of other things. Editors, question my word choices, my punctuation, my paragraph breaks—for goodness sake. They’re not looking for what the author is trying to do, they’re adjusting to their own set of rules that they think are “real,” but of course they’re not real.
So, how do I decide if what I have written—after it goes through all those people—is art? Is it mine? Did I make the decisions?
It has taken me years to be strong enough in my convictions where I can say yes to most of those questions. I do change things if they appeared too clunky or confusing, but only after I read through the material several times and feel that I am in agreement. And, the changes are my words, too. No one else’s words come through. Seldom do I let that happen. And still, even if it does, it was my decision to make the change.
So, whether I write science fiction, fantasy, or what others might call literary fiction, it’s all art. It’s my art: landscapes, portraits, or caricatures.
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Terry Persun writes in many genres, including historical fiction, mainstream, literary, and science fiction/fantasy. He is a Pushcart nominee. His latest poetry collection is “And Now This”. His novels, “Wolf’s Rite” and “Cathedral of Dreams” were ForeWord magazine Book of the Year finalists in the science fiction category, and his novel “Sweet Song” won a Silver IPPY Award. His latest science fiction space opera is, “Hear No Evil”, his latest fantasy is “Doublesight”, his latest mainstream/literary novel is “Ten Months in Wonderland”. Terry’s website is: www.TerryPersun.com or you can find him on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=Terry%20Persun&search-alias=digital-text&sort=relevancerank