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The Starving Artist Is a Myth
Recently, my husband got into a heated exchange on Facebook which spilled over to a real-life conversation between him and me. The topic was money and success and in particular money and success in creative endeavours. He was basically being shit on for having the nerve to be fairly successful at what he does.
There’s a certain segment of the population that looks down their noses at creatives (artists, writers, musicians, etc.) who have managed to have some degree of success in their chosen careers. These people are immediately identifiable by their righteous indignation and smug sneer as they pontificate ad nauseam about the virtues of poverty, the nobility of having nothing. Art, they say cannot be pure and honest if it’s not born out of struggle. Yeah, the starving artist bullshit.
And it is bullshit. I know it’s an age-old romantic notion, but let me break this down for you, poverty isn’t sexy or romantic or fun. Starving isn’t either. I’ve never been starving, but I’ve been poor. It sucks.
Do you do your best work when your stomach is rumbling and all you can think of is food? If you think you do, why don’t you just skip a meal or 2 and give it a try!
Yeah, it just doesn’t work that way. It’s next to impossible to concentrate on…
