Icarus' Flight Plan Revisted

Last night, I decided to re-read the blogs I have posted this semester - the good, the bad, and the just plain ugly (as in that end-of-semester meltdown I had last week). As I write this, Tazi-Kat is sitting by my side (as usual), and I am reflecting on all I have learned - and the irony of one particular thing I wrote.

On September 15, 2011 I blogged about an article I had read on "blogs as clubhouses". It was a short reaction piece, in which I wrote:

...with the saturation of the medium this is where my thoughts split from the author's, who continues on to describe how your personal blog can become a money-maker. Unless you come up with a truly unique topic, such as the Julie and Julia blog; and you are a trained and/or professional writer; and you have the necessary knowledge to produce an accurate, well-researched blog, then the odds of such success occurring are astronomical. This is not to say that one should not try to beat the odds; just that one should not set their sights so high that they are blinded by the sun every time they look upward.

As you can see, in spite of my tendency to aim high, I keep my expectations quite low. I suppose it is so I will not rest on my laurels, but continue to give my all towards every project I undertake. This way of life can be quite draining, but it stems from something I learned while working in advertising: your own opinion of your work is not what matters. It is the opinion of the people who are judging your work that matters.

Now, I am sure there is a chorus of young - and not-so-young - idealists out there carping about how they would never alter their "art" to please another; and I can tell you right now that those same idealists will never make a living off of their "art" - be it writing, videography, film, or actual art. People may claim that they don't believe in commercial success, but those are generally the people who are either already commercially successful or who do not have to depend upon the income generated from their art in order to pay their way through life - or the people who have ended up like Vincent Van Gogh: poor, and more than a little crazy.

Anyhow, back to my main point: I find it ironic that my clubhouse blog may actually bring me commercial success. I wonder if this is how Icarus felt...