The one practice I kept was writing. It made the cut because I can’t deny how many good things in my life have come as a result of my putting words out into the world. It also felt like a respite: one area where I wasn’t skeptical of my identity. I’m at my most courageous on the page because interrogating my feelings with words feels justified and

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These principles act as a soft manifesto for myself, and for anyone else who wants to be an artist practicing for softer reasons at softer paces in softer spaces:

1. Can you afford to break down any barriers between your work and the audience? (monetary, language, accessibility, etc.)


2. What can you gain, that is not money, from the work?


3. Who, that is not

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It's a tricky game because you do need to be aware of best practices, what works, what doesn't, etc - that's how you grow and learn to stand out.

But at the same time, you always need to return to the question:

"Why do I create? What do I create for?"

And of all the answers that arise, understand your primary and secondary reasons.

For me, primary

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