BALANCING THE ARTIST'S LIFE

I enjoyed the on line class, and am thrilled at all I learned. But suddenly I realized I had neglected a lot of other important things for two months .... like creating art!

I don't regret focusing on the class. That was my priority for that time. And look at all I accomplished! I added a second blog about writing, rzwritestuff.blogspot.com and another about my family history, Grandcestor Stories: vintagemontage.wordpress.com

In addition I created two lenses on Squidoo, on Womens Heritage Art and Vintage Montage, and began creating sites on Hub Pages, Twitter, My Space, Facebook and Linkedin. All these locations need to be attended to on a regular basis, and this can be very demanding, especially if tries to do too much. It is important not to get so overwhelmed, the process is no longer joyful.

The priority for an artist is to get all the many demands of life organized and being addressed in balance, on time, and according his/her own priorities. I am learning to allow myself to do just a little on each site until it is up to the standard I hold for myself.

And since all of those sites are about what I love doing, and feel as if I was created to be doing both art and writing, I feel I am on track!

I think it is part of an artist's process to reassess periodically. It was one of those times, back in August that started me on this new journey. I realized marketing effectively on the internet was one thing I had not tried, and resolved to do something about it.

Hunting on the web led me to Julia Stege's webinar. This has led to a new direction, and a change in the way I will try to expose my art and writing in the future. The marketing and production plan I imagined two months ago is changing as I go. And that is great, too.

Writing and images are the sole property of Ruth Zachary.