Creating Art Isn't Selfish

It is amazing to me how much work I am willing to do when someone gives me a few little compliments.This is true even outside of my creative work. In college, a professor who gave me an A- and wrote me a few kind thoughts was likely to inspire me to spend ten times the number of hours on the next project than a professor who gave me a C.

(I wonder how much this has to do with male strategies vs. female strategies of living. Women perhaps tend not to have a stable sense of self and need more compliments whereas men perhaps tend to have a stabler sense of self and may need to be kicked to achieve.)

I am currently working with an editor who clearly loves my book. It shines through in every email she sends me, and I can hear it in her voice when I tell her about what I’m planning for future books in the series and she is breathless with excitement.I have worked with editors before, and believe me when I say that not every editor is equally thrilled to work on a book with you.

Creative types can end being manipulated into doing work for free precisely because of this reality. So often, we spend months doing our work behind closed doors. People who read it are unimpressed (especially in the beginning when we are learning the craft, but it happens plenty later, too). Or they don’t read it at all. They don’t want to waste their time.

We are eager if someone contacts us to tell us how wonderful our work is and we want to hear more of it. This is the reason that many authors end up reading reviews of their own work (which is usually a bad idea, by the way). We do school visits for that same reason. We go to book signings hoping for that feedback. We are often on social media sites because we want to hear good things about our work. We crave that warm feeling of satisfaction, of knowing that we have made someone else happy.

A lot of people (mostly men, honestly) say that in order to create art, you have to be selfish—even arrogant. Well, I am not at all sure that is true. Yes, you need to actually get the art done. That may mean saying no to some things and to some people. It also means believing that you have a story to tell, something to share that others will value, that your voice matters, and that you can create something that no one else can.

But also, in order to create art, you have to be willing to give away the deepest, most vulnerable parts of yourself to someone else you don’t even know, acutely aware that they may mock it or ignore it. Obviously, that’s not what you want. Is it really selfish to want to connect with others? To want to be paid to do your work? Is it really arrogant to believe that you have something unique to offer?

As an artist, you want to help people. You want to give people a gift of happiness, or the feeling of knowing that someone else has expressed for them just exactly what they were thinking, or someone has looked into their soul and found just the perfect deliciousness that will make them feel pleased. You want to lighten their burdens. You want to show them the pain that others feel. You want to teach. You want to offer a little laughter. You want to make a bad day easier.

I don’t think that’s selfish or arrogant at all. I think it’s glorious.