As fellow former lawyer, it’s truly hard to shift from responding to what is needed from you to the deeper open-ended work you are capable of and “deserve” to make. Deserving is a tricky concept but as you said, why the hell not and why not now, why not you…spend those hours reading and drawing and letting your mind make those connections? I think of those cases that I spent months…years working on that settled the night before trial. Was that really a better use of time, lols?!
I am asking myself the same questions. Why am I prioritizing the groceries over drawing? I like tangible outcomes and eating a lot…but I think my focus on practicality is masking a deeper fear of uncertainty that sitting and staring into the void requires. For now, I set my timer read a chapter…get in/get out…do something else…then come back and draw…with less important stuff pushed to later in the day. Some days are better than others. I try to keep at it and let the ebb and flow be.
Look forward to the recs.! I really love The Ask Polly and Ask Molly Substacks by Heather Haverilsky. There is also a marvelous interview between authors Molly Wizenberg and Rachel Khong on these exact questions. I’ll send them to you direct in case you want to take a peek. ❤️
The point you make about settling a years-long case is so accurate! There truly needs to be a support group for ex-lawyers-now-creatives. A friend was saying to me, "it's not our fault that capitalism values our old jobs more than our new ones" :')
Setting a timer is probably a great way to start to enforce some reading time. And I will look at those recommendations, thank you!!
Absolutely loved reading every word of this post. I relate so much (even though I’m not working as a full time artist, not even close). I admire and appreciate your openness.
While I am not a lawyer I can relate to the feelings of doing so many other tasks than creating art.
I have been an art teacher for 20 years but have always approached the job as I am an artist sharing ideas on process, materials, and prompting people to tap into their creativity. The demo pieces are not always what I need to or want to work on as artist.
So when summer hits or I have blocks of time to work on my own work you would think I would just dive in. However I fall into the same rut of doing every other household job first.
This summer I am blocking out chunks of time in my calendar to be in my studio and create. A warm up activity and then whatever I feel like working on. This has given me a better feeling than in the past and I plan on doing it even when school starts in the fall to keep the momentum going and avoid hitting the block again.
Thanks again for this post and all of them, I absolutely love your work!
Appreciate this post very much Zoe!
As fellow former lawyer, it’s truly hard to shift from responding to what is needed from you to the deeper open-ended work you are capable of and “deserve” to make. Deserving is a tricky concept but as you said, why the hell not and why not now, why not you…spend those hours reading and drawing and letting your mind make those connections? I think of those cases that I spent months…years working on that settled the night before trial. Was that really a better use of time, lols?!
I am asking myself the same questions. Why am I prioritizing the groceries over drawing? I like tangible outcomes and eating a lot…but I think my focus on practicality is masking a deeper fear of uncertainty that sitting and staring into the void requires. For now, I set my timer read a chapter…get in/get out…do something else…then come back and draw…with less important stuff pushed to later in the day. Some days are better than others. I try to keep at it and let the ebb and flow be.
Look forward to the recs.! I really love The Ask Polly and Ask Molly Substacks by Heather Haverilsky. There is also a marvelous interview between authors Molly Wizenberg and Rachel Khong on these exact questions. I’ll send them to you direct in case you want to take a peek. ❤️
The point you make about settling a years-long case is so accurate! There truly needs to be a support group for ex-lawyers-now-creatives. A friend was saying to me, "it's not our fault that capitalism values our old jobs more than our new ones" :')
Setting a timer is probably a great way to start to enforce some reading time. And I will look at those recommendations, thank you!!
so excited to check out these podcast recommendations - news break is very needed. thank you for sharing! RUN SO EARLY GOOD JOB
This post! Those affirmations! Feeling all of it 📥
This resonated so much - I think I might need to read it once a week for all eternity! Thankyou - great podcast links too.
Absolutely loved reading every word of this post. I relate so much (even though I’m not working as a full time artist, not even close). I admire and appreciate your openness.
Thank you for reading!! <3
While I am not a lawyer I can relate to the feelings of doing so many other tasks than creating art.
I have been an art teacher for 20 years but have always approached the job as I am an artist sharing ideas on process, materials, and prompting people to tap into their creativity. The demo pieces are not always what I need to or want to work on as artist.
So when summer hits or I have blocks of time to work on my own work you would think I would just dive in. However I fall into the same rut of doing every other household job first.
This summer I am blocking out chunks of time in my calendar to be in my studio and create. A warm up activity and then whatever I feel like working on. This has given me a better feeling than in the past and I plan on doing it even when school starts in the fall to keep the momentum going and avoid hitting the block again.
Thanks again for this post and all of them, I absolutely love your work!