Do Smaller Creative Acts Have Value?

There’s the big art you want to get to the public—the novel, the big painting, the photography show—and then there’s the smaller creative acts that can feed your soul and give you that dopamine hit of finishing something while you’re doing the big stuff. We talk about whether these are “side hustles,” what role they can play in our creative lives, and what to consider when “promotion jitters” stop you from putting them out into the world.

Questions for You:

1. How do you feel about the terms ‘side hustle’ and ‘passive income’?

2. Have you ever created something smaller, off to the side, then decided not to put it out into the world?

3. If yes, what feelings informed your decision?

4. When’s the last time you had promotion jitters, and what was the project?

Cynthia Morris: Excellent 4-minute explanation of why it can be hard to take creative projects 100% of the way through the birth canal and out into the world.

Experimental baseline:

Pat’s 2024 Pleasure Journal: https://a.co/d/4a6U7po