Grit isn’t fashionable

Part of the reason creative people jump from project to project might be because they haven’t found the thing they love yet. We can give them the benefit of the doubt there. But a more likely explanation is that they have unrealistic expectations for their work. They hope their first attempts at something will be received with critical acclaim, will go viral, and will make their career smooth sailing from then on. 

When asked in an interview why she writes so much, award-winning author Joyce Carol Oates replied “I believe I have a reputation for writing a great deal only because the older, healthy tradition of the writer as an extremely hard-working and persistent craftsman is no longer fashionable.” She said this in 1982. Oates could not possibly have imagined the promise of virality and instant fame at our fingertips in the era of social media. It’s even less fashionable now to be gritty; to wrestle for years with sub-par work, while other artists achieve explosive fame overnight. 

Yet, for those who stick with it, a deeper relationship with the work is attainable. Not a steamy evening. Not a summer fling. A marriage. A marriage with commitment and arguments and ups and downs, and ultimately, a lifetime of great companionship.