M. L. Buchman - Managing Your Inner Artist / Writer: Strategies for Success

Managing
Your Inner
Artist / Writer:

Strategies for Success

by M.L. Buchman(s)

Copyright 2014 Matthew Lieber Buchman

Published by Buchman Bookworks, Inc.

All rights reserved.

This book, or parts thereof,
may not be reproduced in any form
without permission from the author.

Discover more by this author at:
www.buchmanbookworks.com

Cover images:

Creativity in business

Emevil | Dreamstime.com

Fine Writing Instrument (back cover)

Shawn Roberts | Dreamstime.com

Dedication

To our spouses for supporting our Inner Artist
and putting up with our outer mayhem.

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didnt do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. Mark Twain

Table of Contents

Section I: The Basics

Chapter 1 Working with Your Inner Artist Part I

Chapter 2 Project Defined

Chapter 3 Goals Basics

Chapter 4 Finding Your Big Goal

Chapter 5 What About All Those Other Goals

Section II: Taking it Up a Notch

Chapter 6 Time Management Part I

Chapter 7 Working with Your Inner Artist Part II

Section III: Making it Practical

Chapter 8 Time Management Part II

Chapter 9 Risk Management

Chapter 10 The Action Plan

Chapter 11 Working with Your Inner Artist Part III

Section IV: Taking it Home And Owning It

Chapter 12 Core Principles why you do what you do

Chapter 13 Project Block

Chapter 14 Working with Your Inner Artist a few final words

Introduction

PURPOSE / ORIGINS

The purpose of this work is to lay the groundwork for the artist in each of us to be nurtured. We hope to offer a practical way to allow the business of art to thrive without impinging on the creative process.

This began as a series of lectures presented to both writing and business professionals regarding the project management of an artist, especially when that artist is oneself. It has been presented to hundreds of writers covering every genre.

The authors have collaborated to create a structure and methodology (a way of thinking and a way to do things) that is accessible to every artist whether they are a writer, a photographer, a painter, or a professional sand-sculpturist (who even knew there was such a thing until we saw them specifically disbarred from a local sand-castling competition on the Oregon Coast).

THE AUTHORS

Why do we have the same initials? Our mother had a good sense of humor.

The Brother the primary voice of this work

M.L. Matt Buchman is an internationally published author of romance, thrillers, and fantasy novels. NPR selected one of his novels as Top 5 Romance of 2012. Another was picked by Booklist as Top 10 Romance of 2012. A third was named Barnes & Noble Best 5 Romance of 2013. He has taught creative fiction writing at the University of Washington as well as lectured at dozens of seminars and conferences over the last twenty years. He has also worked as a project manager for over thirty years and been a trainer on behalf of Project Management International. He has led a wide variety of projects in industries as diverse as publishing, law, construction, and I.T. He studied operatic vocal production for several years and has played a wide variety of instruments badly. He had the good sense to fall in love with a research librarian and is the first to proclaim that he has the best kid on the planet (so dont get him started). He is constantly astonished at what can be done with a degree in Geophysics. ( http://www.mlbuchman.com )

The Sister the reality check behind this work, because my little brother really needs one!

M.L. Melitte Buchman, MFA, a noted practitioner and teacher of tintype photography, has worked for decades leading digital archiving projects for such notable institutions as New York Public Library (NYPL) and New York University (NYU). In frequent demand as a conference speaker, it is the photographic process that motivates her to enter the darkroom and explore what is possible. Her choice of true love was an abstract painter who worked for decades behind the scenes in various NYC galleries and institutions. Between them, they continue to nurture many artists, especially themselves. ( http://www.melittebuchman.com )

WHAT THIS BOOK ISAND ISNT

The first lecture in this series began when Matt became overwhelmed by the problems of how to write, work to contract deadlines in traditional publishing, publish his own work in the (then) new indie-publishing, and learn all that he felt he had to learnwhile working a totally insane day job.

Through a long series of experiments, both failed and successful, and wide study, we decided that the conflicts and overlaps became easier to manage when we divided our thinking into three areas:

• The craft of our art.
• The business person managing our art.
• The business of our art.

This book is intended to reside completely within the second of these three. This is not a book of craft in any field. Nor is this a book of the business side of whatever craft you practice. This is a book talking to the person who must manage both of these in any field.

Further, within that middle role, we can easily list dozens of sub-roles. These roles can all be filled by one person. (Matts friend Scott Carter, who well revisit later, calls his writing career: Running a publishing empire from my laptop.) Or these roles can be filled by many people. Each form of art will be unique, but may include common items such as:

• Education
• Educator for often the best way to learn is to teach
• Finance
• Insurance
• Designer
• Contract specialist
• Materials analyst
• Purchasing
• Marketing

The list feels infinite, and we have no intention of trying to address infinity (just in case it turns out that the list really is infinite, wed rather not know). What we are going to focus on is this single, all-important task:

Managing your inner artist to the greatest success.

That success can be defined as monetary, creative, innovative, and a myriad of other ways. But the challenge we faced was: how can we best help that inner artist find their way toward your chosen goal.

This task cant be outsourced. No one can create a document and present it to your inner artist that will help them. No one can demand of the inner artist what they are unable or unwilling to give. Or that they flat out dont understand. Attempting to do so will usually cause anxiety and / or guilt, and shut down the inner artist, the last thing you want.

This role of managing and nurturing must be owned by the artist themselves for only they will know what works and what doesnt.

The intention of this book is to offer a tool set to aid You the practical person in working in a collaborative (as opposed to authoritative) manner with You the artist.

LANGUAGE

This book will use the word Project frequently. We will explore a variety of definitions, but those are just words. For the purposes of this book, think of a Project as whatever it is you create: book, story, photograph, painting, pottery, cupcakes, film, song, cartoons, or any of the thousands of other forms that art takes in our creative lives.

A WORD OF WARNING

We will be presenting dozens of tools and tips for working with your inner artist. Pick them up, try them on, fool around with them, see if they might fit if done a little differently Whatever works.

HOWEVER! (and we cant emphasize this enough) if you find one of these tools doesnt work for you, dont just put it down. Throw it away! Far away! Fire up the welding torch and make a metal sculpture out of it. None of these are facts, these are ideas and methods and tips, no more, no less.