Thriving Artists go where the magic is. But this takes more than moving to a new city. You have to join a scene, wherever you find one, and that means making connections with the people who will help your work succeed. In other words, you have to build a network.

Recently I met with Bill Ivey, the former chairman for the National Endowment of the Arts. He told me that we sometimes think the alternative to the Starving Artist is what he calls the Subsidized Artist, but that’s the wrong way to think about it. Art needs money. We can deny it all we want and pretend starving makes for better art, but starving

Success in any creative field is contingent on the scenes and networks you are a part of. You join the scene, showing up and sharing your work. But you build a network by giving more than you take. A network is not made by just connecting with the right people, but by connecting

The way you establish your authority in a certain field is by mastering the techniques of those who are already authorities. And what eventually emerges over time is your own style.

Genius, he argues, tends to happen in community, not isolation.

Under the right circumstances, being distractible can be a strength. “If you think about the most creative people,” therapist Chuck Chapman told me, “they’re the ones who innovate. They come up with the ideas, and I think the fact that your brain is going so fast all the time and seeing so many possibilities—that’s what creates innovation.”

When you steal, don’t just copy and paste the work of your predecessors. Once you have mastered the form, bring those influences together in a new way. Curate before you create. If you do this well, you won’t be merely cribbing other people’s work and passing it off as your own. You will be building on it and making it better.

When we show the world our ideas as they unfold to us, people repay such generosity. Because she shared

This is what happens when we practice in public: we not only hone our abilities but attract an audience interested in what we’re sharing.