I recently read your book, not long after quitting my mind-numbingly boring 26 year career as a bookkeeper and administrator (where I gave my soul to help other people become rich). Perimenopause may also have been a catalyst for blowing up my life, but after a couple of false starts in trying to find some other job to give me more purpose, I found your book. Just the kick in the backside I needed to return to my first loves of nature, science and art and see where that leads. I am nine months into my midlife ‘gap year’ where I have given myself permission to try living a creative life. Almost ready to launch my first series of downloadable printable educational artworks and products based on Australian native flora and fauna. Thank you Amie for inspiring me to have a go, and also providing the guidance on how to do it sanely! 💝
Amieeee you are SENDING me with everything you do. Thank you so much. Since starting to dive into the inspired collective videos and journals, I’ve had so many insights into this project I’d been harboring for a long time (like, 10 years is how long I’ve been grappling with these themes. The characters in particular I’ve been thinking of for about 2 and a half years). But it’s actually coming together now in a form I’m proud of because I’ve refused to listen to the “huh” or the “I don’t care” or even the “I don’t like this” anymore. I’ve been feeling into 80% completion and went from having a loose plot and ambitions to make an audio drama musical (so, no stage component, just audio, like the proof of concept Jesus Christ Superstar album except this is truly gonna stand alone with dialogue and such), to a well thought out opening segment idea, plenty of dialogue I’ve yet to voice, and 7 minutes of recorded & MIDI WIP material (2 minutes of which is at that 80% mark) in just THREE DAYS! 🥹 It’s a little bit horror, a little supernatural, dark humor, and rage against the status quo of shame. I’m focusing on making the story 10/10, with 8/10 music and 2/10 vocals (just me recording placeholders in my basement with the in laws upstairs, so I can’t be too loud lol. I’d love to get actors eventually)… but I think the first 15 minute proof of concept even with my shit vocals is going to go so fucking crazy (I’m thinking of releasing it episodically)… it already does, it’s going crazy so far. For added context I’ve been through severe paranoia and delusions bordering on OCD, so getting this far with my project is a huge fucking achievement. I’m literally taking my life back from the fear of rejection. Because that’s where it all stems from. Just taking it one step at a time and I’m not gonna stop until my inverted zombie apocalypse story is OUT THERE (inverted because the undead are the outnumbered ones in danger, not the living!). So thanks again Amie. Let’s do this!!!
The frustrations of every artist! I've had this in comedy, in podcasting and as an author. In fact, my successes are totally outweighed by my failures. It hurts. I have given up forever four times but still keep bouncing back, hoping 'one day....'
'We have been taught to overestimate the institution and underestimate the artist.' So very true. Would the dawn be dismissive the dusk? Would the sunrise criticize the joy in the voice of a morning lark's song? No. It sings for joy. As artists and pursuers of inspiration we must sing and let the notes flow on the wind. Lovely, timely article.
“More often than not, the creator knows the potency of their own work before anyone else”
⬆️ This. How sad, the unknown art lost because the creator could not reach the potency they felt inside when making the real thing. Strong ideas abandoned! Our job creating is to remove all roadblocks except those that move us closer to our artistic truth.❤️🌈
Good lawd!I felt like I had lovingly been shaken by my shoulders! Just the pep talk I needed to hear, right down into my spirit! What resonated most for me was to "cultivate a part of you who backs you and champions your work in audacious ways". Also, the nod to not showing up with that 'pick me' energy, nor allowing anger to turn to bitterness.
This "What does the work want next? What is the next fucking potent thing I can create and share? Where is the next opportunity to be brilliant?" my goodness...yes to agency!!
I listened to the audiobook version of "We Need your Art" last year and feel ready for a another listen!
I have literally started talking to those voices a couple of weeks ago... and most conversations start with me responding something like "dude! they absolutely don't know what's the better way. we know fucking better!"
and I wrote this shortly after: "it only matters what other people think of you when you give away your power, letting their possibly false view of you determine what's the reality of things"
The historical record for this is remarkably consistent.
Hildegard von Bingen was enclosed in a monastery cell at eight years old — given, effectively, to the Church as a tithe. She began writing Physica, her complete catalog of 230 medicinal plants with dosages and contraindications, at forty. She produced her major theological works, her music, her natural history, and her political correspondence with popes and emperors in the years the institution had decided were her decline.
Trotula of Salerno wrote the first systematic text on women's medicine in the Western tradition in the eleventh century. The institutions that used her book for five hundred years spent a significant portion of that time debating whether a woman could have written it. The debate did not slow the book's circulation. It slowed their ability to credit her.
Jacoba Felicie was convicted in 1322 for practicing medicine. The evidence against her was her cure rate. Her patients testified on her behalf. The court acknowledged her competence and convicted her anyway.
What these women understood — and what Anita's piece articulates precisely — is that the underestimation is not the obstacle. It is the condition under which the work gets done without interference.
They were not working despite being dismissed. They were working because the dismissal cleared the room.
The potency was always in the silence they were given.
Thanks for the pep talk — I’m going to come back to it when I need it! I’m new to taking my art seriously, and it’s not always easy to realize when I’m being true to my own inspiration versus trying to create what I think will impress people. I love this reminder to always return to yourself and your relationship to the creative work.
Thissss! Thank you for building a community that helps me be more gentle with myself in that reminder of “learning to hold your own vision before the world knows what to do with it”. Ain’t that the damn truth. Personal development and nervous system healing tests to the maximum! ✨
What I like about this article is that you embrace the word delusional and use it as a positive as opposed to a negative. I remember years ago, a relative called me self-deluded because of my goals and dreams for my books and artwork. I like how you flipped something that can be perceived as negative and and turned it into something motivating. Thank you for sharing this article.
I recently read your book, not long after quitting my mind-numbingly boring 26 year career as a bookkeeper and administrator (where I gave my soul to help other people become rich). Perimenopause may also have been a catalyst for blowing up my life, but after a couple of false starts in trying to find some other job to give me more purpose, I found your book. Just the kick in the backside I needed to return to my first loves of nature, science and art and see where that leads. I am nine months into my midlife ‘gap year’ where I have given myself permission to try living a creative life. Almost ready to launch my first series of downloadable printable educational artworks and products based on Australian native flora and fauna. Thank you Amie for inspiring me to have a go, and also providing the guidance on how to do it sanely! 💝
Holy shit! These are stunning words. Thank you! I so desperately needed this right now. 🧡
I’ll have what she’s having
Amieeee you are SENDING me with everything you do. Thank you so much. Since starting to dive into the inspired collective videos and journals, I’ve had so many insights into this project I’d been harboring for a long time (like, 10 years is how long I’ve been grappling with these themes. The characters in particular I’ve been thinking of for about 2 and a half years). But it’s actually coming together now in a form I’m proud of because I’ve refused to listen to the “huh” or the “I don’t care” or even the “I don’t like this” anymore. I’ve been feeling into 80% completion and went from having a loose plot and ambitions to make an audio drama musical (so, no stage component, just audio, like the proof of concept Jesus Christ Superstar album except this is truly gonna stand alone with dialogue and such), to a well thought out opening segment idea, plenty of dialogue I’ve yet to voice, and 7 minutes of recorded & MIDI WIP material (2 minutes of which is at that 80% mark) in just THREE DAYS! 🥹 It’s a little bit horror, a little supernatural, dark humor, and rage against the status quo of shame. I’m focusing on making the story 10/10, with 8/10 music and 2/10 vocals (just me recording placeholders in my basement with the in laws upstairs, so I can’t be too loud lol. I’d love to get actors eventually)… but I think the first 15 minute proof of concept even with my shit vocals is going to go so fucking crazy (I’m thinking of releasing it episodically)… it already does, it’s going crazy so far. For added context I’ve been through severe paranoia and delusions bordering on OCD, so getting this far with my project is a huge fucking achievement. I’m literally taking my life back from the fear of rejection. Because that’s where it all stems from. Just taking it one step at a time and I’m not gonna stop until my inverted zombie apocalypse story is OUT THERE (inverted because the undead are the outnumbered ones in danger, not the living!). So thanks again Amie. Let’s do this!!!
The frustrations of every artist! I've had this in comedy, in podcasting and as an author. In fact, my successes are totally outweighed by my failures. It hurts. I have given up forever four times but still keep bouncing back, hoping 'one day....'
'We have been taught to overestimate the institution and underestimate the artist.' So very true. Would the dawn be dismissive the dusk? Would the sunrise criticize the joy in the voice of a morning lark's song? No. It sings for joy. As artists and pursuers of inspiration we must sing and let the notes flow on the wind. Lovely, timely article.
“More often than not, the creator knows the potency of their own work before anyone else”
⬆️ This. How sad, the unknown art lost because the creator could not reach the potency they felt inside when making the real thing. Strong ideas abandoned! Our job creating is to remove all roadblocks except those that move us closer to our artistic truth.❤️🌈
I needed this. Thank you. "I am inevitable."
Good lawd!I felt like I had lovingly been shaken by my shoulders! Just the pep talk I needed to hear, right down into my spirit! What resonated most for me was to "cultivate a part of you who backs you and champions your work in audacious ways". Also, the nod to not showing up with that 'pick me' energy, nor allowing anger to turn to bitterness.
This "What does the work want next? What is the next fucking potent thing I can create and share? Where is the next opportunity to be brilliant?" my goodness...yes to agency!!
I listened to the audiobook version of "We Need your Art" last year and feel ready for a another listen!
I have literally started talking to those voices a couple of weeks ago... and most conversations start with me responding something like "dude! they absolutely don't know what's the better way. we know fucking better!"
and I wrote this shortly after: "it only matters what other people think of you when you give away your power, letting their possibly false view of you determine what's the reality of things"
Powerful thoughts. Thanks for sharing.
The historical record for this is remarkably consistent.
Hildegard von Bingen was enclosed in a monastery cell at eight years old — given, effectively, to the Church as a tithe. She began writing Physica, her complete catalog of 230 medicinal plants with dosages and contraindications, at forty. She produced her major theological works, her music, her natural history, and her political correspondence with popes and emperors in the years the institution had decided were her decline.
Trotula of Salerno wrote the first systematic text on women's medicine in the Western tradition in the eleventh century. The institutions that used her book for five hundred years spent a significant portion of that time debating whether a woman could have written it. The debate did not slow the book's circulation. It slowed their ability to credit her.
Jacoba Felicie was convicted in 1322 for practicing medicine. The evidence against her was her cure rate. Her patients testified on her behalf. The court acknowledged her competence and convicted her anyway.
What these women understood — and what Anita's piece articulates precisely — is that the underestimation is not the obstacle. It is the condition under which the work gets done without interference.
They were not working despite being dismissed. They were working because the dismissal cleared the room.
The potency was always in the silence they were given.
Thanks for the pep talk — I’m going to come back to it when I need it! I’m new to taking my art seriously, and it’s not always easy to realize when I’m being true to my own inspiration versus trying to create what I think will impress people. I love this reminder to always return to yourself and your relationship to the creative work.
Thissss! Thank you for building a community that helps me be more gentle with myself in that reminder of “learning to hold your own vision before the world knows what to do with it”. Ain’t that the damn truth. Personal development and nervous system healing tests to the maximum! ✨
Listening to this after painful rejection. So so needed. Thank you Amy! ♥️♥️♥️
What I like about this article is that you embrace the word delusional and use it as a positive as opposed to a negative. I remember years ago, a relative called me self-deluded because of my goals and dreams for my books and artwork. I like how you flipped something that can be perceived as negative and and turned it into something motivating. Thank you for sharing this article.