“I know I was meant to be a writer, because I simply can’t NOT write!”

I hear versions of this all the time.  Writers say it.  Painters say it.  Musicians say it. When I was a dumb teenager, before I understood what art was, I said it myself.

I get where it comes from. People feel like they need an Excuse. It’s hard to explain the complicated choice to create art, when the world is so quick to assert that there is no value in it.  It’s so much easier for artists to just say, “I have no choice in the matter. It’s part of who I am.”

But here’s the thing.  Saying this actively devalues the art that you Produce.

If art is a natural byproduct of your existence, why should anyone value it? Why should they pay you for it?  Why should they recognize your ownership of it? You were going to do it whether you got paid or not, right, so why SHOULDN’T the nearest entrepreneur be allowed to make a living off it?

By your own words, you didn’t work to make that thing, anymore than a person works to create carbon dioxide out of oxygen.

We all know this isn’t true, so stop saying this. Stop downplaying the literal YEARS of training that you’ve gone through.  Don’t forget the blood, sweat, and tears that goes into each and every work of art that you produce.

Never say that you’re an artist because you “can’t not” do it. NOT making art is the easiest thing in the world. It’s the choice to take the hard route that makes you an artist.  Day in, day out, even when it would be easier to quit. Even when no one cares. Even when the only thing you want to do is curl up on the couch and watch Big Bang Theory.  You show up and you do the work. THAT is what makes you an artist.

You don’t need this kind of affected ennui as an excuse to make art. The work itself is excuse enough.