How to Be an Artist

Recently I was wandering around a bookstore when I stumbled upon this great little book titled How to Be an Artist by JoAnneh Nagler.  In it, the author writes about everything from the call to be creative to managing time, money and motivation.  I've only just begun, but already love her advice to find the right job in order to pursue creativity - from one that doesn't involve the arts to one that does.  She discusses being appreciative of the job opportunities that come our way in order to fund our creative endeavors.  She speaks about working with 'good people', those people that make you happy and that you enjoy spending time with and I feel that this has always been important to me.  Initially I worked as a bookkeeper (one job was filled with good people and, unfortunately the other wasn't), as an administrator and a manager in a variety of environments from a car dealership to a dental office to a school to a church (all good people) and in those roles I learned so much.  I was taught phone etiquette, customer service, professional correspondence, website creation and business practices along with budgeting and government reporting.  I also learned staff and time management both on the job and through courses offered by my employers.  Now I have the great privilege of working as the Arts + Culture Coordinator for my public library and I get to incorporate everything I have learned with the arts....my favorite thing.  Plus, I get to bring this all back to my personal career as an artist when writing artist statements and magazine articles, creating my website, and presenting my work to galleries.  It's a great read already, very inspiring, and I highly recommend it.